USD/JPY keeps the red but holds above 112 mark, BoJ’s Kuroda awaited

The USD/JPY pair maintained its bearish bias through early NA session but has managed to hold above session lows touched during the early European session.

A goodish rebound in European equity market pointed to improving risk appetite and was seen denting the Japanese Yen's safe-haven appeal. This coupled with a sharp US Dollar recovery, primarily led by some selling pressure around the EUR/USD major following ECB headlines further assisted the pair to recover back above the 112.00 handle.

   •  US Dollar holding on to 96.00 and above

However, retracing US Treasury bond yields, especially shorter end of the yield curve, failed to provide any additional boost to the greenback and held the pair near mid-point of the daily trading range, around 112.10 region.

Next on tap would be the release of pending home sales data from the US, while comments coming from Central Bankers panel discussion at the European Central Bank Forum, including BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda would now turn out to be the key determinant of the pair’s movement through NY trading session on Wednesday.

   •  ECB Forum: Draghi, Poloz, Kuroda and Carney – Live speeches

Technical outlook

Valeria Bednarik, Chief Analyst at FXStreet writes, “the 4 hours chart shows that the price holds above a Fibonacci support, around 112.00, while technical indicators are retreating modestly within positive territory, but still well above their mid-lines. The 100 SMA in the mentioned chart gains bullish strength below the current level, but the 200 SMA maintains its bearish slope, both too far away to be relevant today.”