A relatively quiet session for the JPY this morning after last night’s US President’s Day holiday.USD/JPY opened in Sydney at Y118.50, pretty much in the middle of yesterday’s Y118.18 to Y118.88 range. There were no economic data from Japan but there was some early action on reports of an earthquake which triggered a tsunami warning and as the US dollar staged a broad rise. There was some talk linking that dollar move to a WSJ article citing Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, who sees a June rate hike as a “viable option.” Dollar-yen witnessed a few spikes higher in thin trading conditions, the last one hitting a high of Y118.54. Dollar-yen then backed off after Japanese stocks opened lower and it stayed near the lows through the next few hours. It recovered again toward Y118.50 around mid-morning and was then nudged higher in the early afternoon as Japanese stocks pared initial losses, to trade a high of Y118.61. It last trades at Y118.52. Resting Japanese exporter supply is noted between Y119.00 to Y119.10. Support remains at Y118.15, marking the 50% fibo retracement of the Y115.82 to Y120.48 rise, resistance lies at Y119.06 which marks the 38.2% fibo retracement on the Y120.48 to Y118.18 fall.
