USD/JPY opened in Sydney at Y119.45 this morning, at the high end of the Y118.68 to Y119.50 range seen in offshore markets, US dollar strength being the main theme on better than expected US core inflation data. There was a slew of Japanese economic data today, which included unemployment, CPI and household spending but market reaction was muted. Dollar-yen held around Y119.40 heading into the data release and dipped to aroudn Y119.37 after all were published. The pair then saw another fairly sharp move lower in the few minutes which followed the stock market open and it then hit a low of Y119.25. It followed up with a mild recovery to Y119.36 before seeing a fresh move down in the late morning to a low of Y119.18. Dollar-yen last trades at Y119.23, Japanese exporter supply cited earlier between Y119.50 to Y119.60, some attributing that to month-end flows. Initial resistance is intact at Y119.60, which is the 61.8% retracement of the Y120.48 to Y118.18 fall.
