A subdued morning for the JPY today ahead of the start of Golden Week holidays in Japan. Markets will be closed on Tuesday and on May 5 and 6. Dollar-yen opened at Y102.19 while euro-yen started at Y141.38. Early dealings were slow with dollar-yen briefly marking a Y102.24 high, matching the high riday in the US. It then slipped to Y102.16, then to Y102.12 after the release of Japan’s March retail sales data. Losses continued to Y102.08 after Japanese stocks opened lower but ran into demand interest from below Y102.00. That contained the move, and dollar-yen then recovered againtoward Y102.15 despite Japanese stocks ending the morning session lower. Euro-yen also tracked the moves, falling to Y140.99 soon after Japanese stocks opened but recovered a bit to 141.20 later. The cross was last at Y141.19 while dollar-yen was at Y102.14. At current levels, last Friday’s Y102.51 session high serves as immediate resistance while offers remain above, from around Y102.70. Immediate focus to the downside remains on the Y101.86 initial support with bears targeting the Y100.75-101.32 region while the Y102.72 level caps. Stops are noted below Y101.80 and above Y102.75 at the start of the new week.
