USD/JPY Analysis

The pair opened at Y101.90 this morning and ran into mild early weakness, which nudged it down to Y101.80 in the opening hours. It was holding just under when Japan’s Q GDP data were released and the pair briefly recovered to Y101.90 immediately after the better-than-expected reading. Japanese stocks however opened lower and dollar-yen turned back down after the start, with the losses picking up a bit of speed for a low of Y101.66. Rumored demand from domestic and offshore names then kicked in, with some dealers attributing that to fixing demand on Gotobi day. Dollar-yen crept back up through Y101.80 again and then went through Y101.90 for a session high of Y101.93 in the late morning but a lack of follow-through coupled with sporadic selling interest towardY102.00/10 pushed the pair back down again. Dollar-yen was last at Y101.83. Resistance continues to be noted on the hourly time frame at the Y101.95 level with small stops seen above Y102.00/10. Overall, a close above the Y102.36 level would end bearish outlook for the pair and see the focus shift back to the Y102.76-103.12 region.