USD/JPY steadily climbs to session tops, 109.00 mark back in sight

The USD/JPY pair managed to recover nearly 40 pips from Asian session lows and shot to fresh daily tops, around the 108.80 region in the last hour.

Following the previous day's pullback from two-week tops, the pair caught some fresh bids on Thursday and might now be looking to build on this week's recovery from the lowest level since early March. This marked the third day of a positive move in the previous four and was sponsored by a combination of factors.

As investors looked past Wednesday's dovish FOMC statement, the US dollar found some support from a goodish pickup in the US Treasury bond yields and staged a modest bounce from over two-month lows. This was seen as a key factor driving the USD/JPY pair higher during the first half of the trading action on Thursday.

Apart from this, the underlying bullish sentiment in the financial markets undermined the safe-haven Japanese yen and provided an additional lift to the USD/JPY pair. It will now be interesting to see if bulls are able to capitalize on the move or struggle to find acceptance above the 109.00 mark ahead of the US Q1 GDP report, due later during the early North American session.

The first estimate is expected to show that the world's largest economy expanded at a robust 6.5% annualized pace during the first quarter of 2021. A surge in consumer spending – backed by an unprecedented government stimulus – is expected to have boosted growth. A stronger reading might underpin the greenback and pave the way for some positive move for the USD/JPY pair.

Technical levels to watch