USD/JPY holds steady around mid-108.00s, closer to multi-month tops

The USD/JPY pair held on to its modest gains through the early European session and was last seen hovering near the top end of its daily trading range, just below mid-108.00s.

A combination of factors assisted the pair to regain positive traction on the first day of a new trading week and inch back closer to the highest level since June 2020 touched on Friday. The upbeat US monthly jobs report for February reinforced the narrative of a strong sequential recovery and continued underpinning the US dollar.

Bullish traders further took cues from a fresh leg up in the US Treasury bond yields, buoyed by the passage of a massive US fiscal spending bill. The US Senate on Saturday voted 50-49 in favour of a much-awaited $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package proposed by US President Joe Biden and sparked another sell-off in the US fixed income market.

In fact, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US government bond inched back closer to 1.60%, or over one-year tops and further benefitted the greenback. That said, a softer tone around the equity markets extended some support to the safe-haven Japanese yen and turned out to be the only factor that kept a lid on any runaway rally for the USD/JPY pair.

Investors turned cautious on the back of reports of attacks on Saudi Arabian oil production facilities over the weekend. Apart from this, overbought RSI on the daily chart further held bullish traders from placing aggressive bets and might collaborate towards capping gains for the USD/JPY pair, at least for the time being.

In the absence of any major market-moving economic releases from the US, the US bond yields will continue to play a key role in influencing the USD price dynamics. This, along with the broader market risk sentiment, might provide some impetus to the USD/JPY pair and allow traders to grab some short-term opportunities.

Technical levels to watch