USD/JPY Price Analysis: Bulls hold territory ahead of BoJ decision, closes a winning week

The USD/JPY pair sees mild gains, settling at 148.25.
No policy changes are expected at next week’s BoJ meeting; guidance will be looked upon.
Despite bearish undertones in the four-hour-chart outlook, the pair's position above the 20,100,200-day SMAs indicates a broader bullish control.

Patricio Martín FXStreet

On Friday's session, the USD/JPY was observed to be mildly gaining, currently trading at 148.25, and will close a 2% winning week. Dominating the daily chart, bullish sentiments prevail, with the bulls firmly holding their stance but seem to be taking a breather. Next week, the bulls might get further momentum if the Bank of Japan (BoJ) does not give additional clues on its monetary policy plans.

On the USD side, it remains resilient on the back of the US yields recovering and positive University of Michigan (UoM) Consumer Sentiment data, which gave the Greenback an additional boost. Next week, markets will eye December’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) figures from December, the Federal Reserve (Fed) preferred gauge of inflation to continue placing their bets on the next decision. The dovish expectations eased somewhat this week but are still high, and according to the CME FedWatch Tool, the odds of cuts in March and May stand at around 50% and 45%, respectively.

USD/JPY Technical Analysis

From a daily standpoint, the technical indicators reflect bullish strength, maintaining a firm position, but buyers are running out of steam. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) demonstrates a slight positive tilt within the positive region, while flat green bars of the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) further confirm a positive outlook but with a slight deceleration. Moreover, the placement of the pair distinctly above the 20, 100, and 200-day Simple Moving Averages (SMAs) indicates that the buying momentum overpowers any bearish undertones, giving the bulls an overall command.

USD/JPY

Overview
Today last price	148.21
Today Daily Change	0.03
Today Daily Change %	0.02
Today daily open	148.18

Trends
Daily SMA20	144.07
Daily SMA50	145.85
Daily SMA100	147.43
Daily SMA200	143.91

Levels
Previous Daily High	148.3
Previous Daily Low	147.66
Previous Weekly High	146.41
Previous Weekly Low	143.42
Previous Monthly High	148.35
Previous Monthly Low	140.25
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	147.9
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	148.06
Daily Pivot Point S1	147.79
Daily Pivot Point S2	147.4
Daily Pivot Point S3	147.15
Daily Pivot Point R1	148.44
Daily Pivot Point R2	148.69
Daily Pivot Point R3	149.08

USD/JPY daily chart

Author

Patricio Martín

FXStreet

Patricio is an economist from Argentina passionate about global finance and understanding the daily movements of the markets.

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