The pair strengthened briefly at the start of the stock market session as the Nikkei 225 opened lower but demand for dollar-yen and yen crosses have kept the yen under pressure. Dollar-yen opened at Y104.85 and weakened early to Y104.74 after the stock market open. Euro-yen also fell to Y142.18 soon after it had started the session at Y142.35. Dollar-yen however caught a bid tone after that as Japanese accounts were spotted buying. Dollar-yen rebounded to Y104.99 while euro-yen also recovered to Y142.53 around mid-morning but both pairs failed to really extend the gains beyond that.Dollar-yen stumbled over some sell orders near Y105.00, and retraced to Y104.80 in the early afternoon. The pair was last traded at Y104.86 while euro-yen was at Y142.40. The cross managed a spike above the 21-day moving average (Y142.87) on Wednesday although that also lacked follow-through. A close above Wednesday’s Y143.16 high is now needed to confirm a break of the 21-day and shift the focus back to the 2013 high of Y145.69.
