USD/JPY retreats from highs, still manages to hold above 112.00 mark

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

The USD/JPY pair surrendered majority of its early gains to mid-112.00s and has now retreated to the lower end of Asian session trading range.

The pair did recover Friday's N. Korean headlines-led sharp drop and was being supported by weaker than expected Japanese flash manufacturing PMI for September.

The modest up-move, however, seemed losing steam after the Japanese government, in its monthly economic assessment, said that the economy is still on moderate recovery path.

This coupled with new setbacks for the US health care bill - to repeal and replace the Obamacare health insurance program, further collaborated towards keeping a lid on the pair's up-move.

• GOP leaders circulating proposals to cut the corporate tax rate to 20%

Investors now look forward to the Japanese PM Shinzō Abe's likely news conference at 0900GMT, where he is anticipated to order a 2-trillion yen stimulus package to increase spending on child care and education.

• Japan’s PM Abe to hold news conference at 0900 GMT - RTRS

Technical levels to watch

Bulls would be disheartened if the pair fails to defend the 112.00 handle, below which the slide could get extended towards 111.55 intermediate horizontal support en-route the 111.10-111.00 region.

On the upside, sustained move beyond mid-112.00s has the potential to continue lifting the pair towards 112.70 level ahead of the 113.00 handle.

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

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

GBP/USD off highs, back to 1.3620

GBP/USD remains slightly on the defensive at the end of the week, receding to the low 1.3600s after hitting fresh tops past 1.3670 earlier in the day. Cable’s correction comes after two daily gains in a row and amid a tepid advance in the Greenback, while poor UK data also accompany the downside.

EUR/USD treads water below 1.1700

EUR/USD now trades with modest losses around 1.1670 following another unsuccessful atempt to advance past 1.1700 the figure in a convincing fashion. The pair’s decline follows a maginal rebound in the US Dollar as market participants continue to assess recent US data as well as developments from the US bond market.

Gold keeps rallying toward $4,700, fresh three-month highs

Gold extends its last week's stellar performance into Asian trading on Monday, refreshing three-month highs beyond $4,600. The precious metal capitalizes on persistent US Dollar weakness, following the US Treasury's buyback plan amid fresh US-Canada trade tensions.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple pause as momentum indicators signal overbought conditions, massive rallies

Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) hover around key levels on Monday, with a bullish bias but appearing stretched after surging over 23%, 31% and 53% in the previous week. Such a massive rally suggests the top three cryptocurrencies could consolidate or pull back in the short term as traders take profits.

US Dollar Weekly Forecast: Enter Jackson, mind the (budget) Hole

It was not geopolitics, the US-Japan joint FX intervention to support the beleaguered Japanese currency or the omnipresent bets on what the Federal Reserve (Fed) might do in the second half of the year that kept the US Dollar (USD) well on the back foot over the past five days.

$20 billion offered, $2 billion taken: Why Treasury doubled its buyback cap

The US Treasury moved off its own calendar on Wednesday, and that is the part worth sitting with. At 12:32 GMT, the department said it would at least double the size of liquidity support buyback operations in the 10-year to 20-year and 20-year to 30-year sectors, lifting the maximum from $2 billion per operation to at least $4 billion, effective September 9 and running to November 4.