The pair traded a US high of Y102.21 after US stocks rallied helped partially by Fed’s Chair Yellen’s mildly more dovish assessment of the US economy, before starting the pre-Asian hours at Y102.13 this morning. Markets initially held back, waiting for a slew of early Japanese data releases for clues as well as eyeing Japanese stocks to set the tone in the final session of February. The Japanese currency began to firm following the Japanese data, with dollar-yen easing to Y102.08 from around Y102.14 earlier while euro-yen dipped below Y140.00 to Y139.96. Small gains in Japanese stocks failed to provide a significant boost for yen pairs with dollar-yen under pressure from sellersoffloading ahead of the Tokyo fix. The pair fell below Y102.00 to trade a Y101.76 low in the late morning while euro-yen fell below Y140.00 to a Y139.47 low. In the early afternoon, dollar-yen was still hovering near the lows at Y101.81 while the cross was last at Y139.52. Dollar-yen’s break below the 100-day moving average suggests scope for a move back to this month’s lows near Y100.76, seen Feb 4, with the more important 200-day moving average coming in at Y100.20.
