The pair opened around Y104.79 this morning after it gave up the Y105.00 mark overnight in the US session. Initial morning trades were subdued with dollar-yen holding near Y104.80 in the early hours while euro-yen also traded near Y143.30 after opening at Y143.29. The pair marked a Y104.88 high earlier and then began to retreat slowly around mid-morning. Speculators then took aim at rumored bids defending a Y104.50 expiry, taking advantage of the absence of Japanese market players, who were still out for the new year holidays. Dollar-yen slid through Y104.50 and set off stop-loss sell orders below while yen crosses also retreated dragging euro-yen down to Y142.23.Further dollar-yen stops were then hit when Y104.30 gave way, and the pair then traded a Y104.16 low before rumors of demand from Y104.10 and Y104.00 then cushioned the losses. Dollar-yen was last at Y104.26 while the cross was at Y142.45.
