USD/JPY climbs further beyond 110.00 mark, highest since April 6

USD/JPY gained traction for the third straight day and was supported by a combination of factors.
The intraday USD buying interest picked up pace after stronger than expected PCE inflation data.
The prevalent risk-on mood undermined the safe-haven JPY and remained supportive of the move.

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

The USD/JPY pair finally broke out of its intraday trading range and shot to the highest level since April 6, around the 110.20 region in the last hour.

A combination of factors assisted the pair to build on this week's positive move and continue scaling higher for the third consecutive session on Friday. Following the previous day's brief pause, the US dollar regained traction amid speculations that risking inflation pressures will force the Fed to tighten its monetary policy sooner rather than later.

The higher inflation narrative was validated by stronger Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index data. In fact, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge – the Core PCE Price Index – surpassed market expectations and jumped to 3.1% in April from 1.9%. This marked the highest reading since 1994 and further validated the higher inflation narrative.

Apart from this, the risk-on rally across the global equity markets continued undermining the safe-haven Japanese yen and contributed to the USD/JPY pair's positive move. The already upbeat market mood got an additional boost from growing optimism over the economic recovery amid reports about the Biden administration's multi-trillion fiscal spending plan.

Meanwhile, the strong move up could further be attributed to some technical buying on a sustained move beyond the key 110.00 psychological mark. With technical indicators still far from being in the overbought territory, the USD/JPY pair now seems poised to climb further to the 110.70-75 intermediate resistance en-route YTD tops, just ahead of the 111.00 mark.

Technical levels to watch

USD/JPY

Overview
Today last price	110.2
Today Daily Change	0.41
Today Daily Change %	0.37
Today daily open	109.79

Trends
Daily SMA20	109.11
Daily SMA50	109.13
Daily SMA100	107.42
Daily SMA200	106.09

Levels
Previous Daily High	109.92
Previous Daily Low	109.04
Previous Weekly High	109.5
Previous Weekly Low	108.57
Previous Monthly High	110.85
Previous Monthly Low	107.48
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	109.58
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	109.38
Daily Pivot Point S1	109.24
Daily Pivot Point S2	108.7
Daily Pivot Point S3	108.36
Daily Pivot Point R1	110.13
Daily Pivot Point R2	110.47
Daily Pivot Point R3	111.01

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

Haresh Menghani is a detail-oriented professional with 10+ years of extensive experience in analysing the global financial markets.

EUR/USD remains offered below 1.1800, looks at US data

EUR/USD is still trading on the defensive in the latter part of Thursday’s session, while the US Dollar maintains its bid bias as investors now gear up for Friday’s key release of the PCE data, advanced Q4 GDP prints and flash PMIs.

GBP/USD bounces off monthly lows near 1.3430

GBP/USD is sliding in tandem with its risk-sensitive peers, drifting back towards the 1.3430 area, its lowest levels in the month. The move reflects a firmer Greenback, supported by another round of solid US data and a somewhat divided FOMC Minutes.

Gold drifts higher to near $5,000 on heightened US-Iran tensions

Gold price holds positive ground near $5,000 during the early Asian session on Friday. The precious metal edges higher as escalating tensions between the United States and Iran boost safe-haven demand. Traders brace for the preliminary reading of US Gross Domestic Product for the fourth quarter, the Personal Consumption Expenditures and the S&P Global Purchasing Managers Index data, which are due later on Friday.

XRP edges lower as SG-FORGE integrates EUR stablecoin on XRP Ledger

Ripple’s (XRP) outlook remains weak, as headwinds spark declines toward the $1.40 psychological support at the time of writing on Thursday.

Hawkish Fed minutes and a market finding its footing

It was green across the board for US Stock market indexes at the close on Wednesday, with most S&P 500 names ending higher, adding 38 points (0.6%) to 6,881 overall. At the GICS sector level, energy led gains, followed by technology and consumer discretionary, while utilities and real estate posted the largest losses.

Injective token surges over 13% following the approval of the mainnet upgrade proposal

Injective price rallies over 13% on Thursday after the network confirmed the approval of its IIP-619 proposal. The green light for the mainnet upgrade has boosted traders’ sentiment, as the upgrade aims to scale Injective’s real-time Ethereum Virtual Machine architecture and enhance its capabilities to support next-generation payments.