USD/JPY loses momentum near fresh five-week lows below 148.00, US NFP data looms

USD/JPY loses traction near 147.70 amid the softer USD and BoJ’s hawkish comments.
BOJ policymakers said the economy was moving towards its 2% target, raising the chance that BoJ will end its negative rate.
The US Nonfarm-Payrolls will be a closely watched event for traders.

Lallalit Srijandorn FXStreet

The USD/JPY pair drops to fresh five-week lows below the 148.00 mark during the early Asian trading hours on Friday. A weaker US Dollar (USD) and growing speculation that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) will exit from an ultra-loose monetary policy stance lift the Japanese Yen (JPY) and exert some selling pressure on the USD/JPY. At press time, the pair is trading at 147.70, down 0.26% on the day.

The Bank of Japan's (BOJ) governor and board members said on Thursday the economy was moving towards the central bank's 2% inflation target, raising the possibility that the BOJ will end its negative interest rates for the first time since 2007. The hawkish comments from BoJ policymakers lift the JPY to a one-month high against the USD

On the other hand, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the US central bank is "not far" from gaining enough confidence that inflation will reach its 2% target to begin lowering interest rates. The Fed Chair didn’t provide a precise timetable for rate cuts, as Fed officials want to see more evidence before considering cutting rates.

Market participants will take more cues from the US February labor market report on Friday. The US Nonfarm-Payrolls is projected to see 200,000 jobs added to the US economy. The unemployment rate is estimated to hold steady at 3.7%, while Average Hourly Earnings are forecast to ease to 0.2% MoM versus 0.6% MoM in January.

USD/JPY

Overview
Today last price	147.72
Today Daily Change	-0.36
Today Daily Change %	-0.24
Today daily open	148.08

Trends
Daily SMA20	150.06
Daily SMA50	147.82
Daily SMA100	147.67
Daily SMA200	146.15

Levels
Previous Daily High	149.45
Previous Daily Low	147.59
Previous Weekly High	150.85
Previous Weekly Low	149.21
Previous Monthly High	150.89
Previous Monthly Low	145.9
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	148.3
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	148.74
Daily Pivot Point S1	147.29
Daily Pivot Point S2	146.51
Daily Pivot Point S3	145.43
Daily Pivot Point R1	149.16
Daily Pivot Point R2	150.24
Daily Pivot Point R3	151.02

Author

Lallalit Srijandorn

FXStreet

Lallalit Srijandorn is a Parisian at heart. She has lived in France since 2019 and now becomes a digital entrepreneur based in Paris and Bangkok.

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