USD/JPY struggles for direction, holds steady around 114.00 mark

USD/JPY struggled to preserve/capitalize on its modest intraday gains on Friday.
A subdued USD price action turned out to be a key factor that capped the upside.
Signs of stability in the equity markets, elevated US bond yields extended support.

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

The USD/JPY pair held on to its modest intraday gains heading into the European session, albeit lacked follow-through and was last seen trading around the 114.00 mark.

The pair built on the overnight bounce from one-week lows and gained some traction during the early part of the trading action on Friday. Reports that China Evergrande made funds available for a bond coupon to a trustee account helped ease concerns about a credit crunch in China's real estate sector. This, in turn, undermined the safe-haven Japanese yen and acted as a tailwind for the USD/JPY pair.

On the other hand, the US dollar, so far, has struggled to capitalize on the previous day's goodish rebound from three-week lows. This was seen as a key factor that failed to provide any additional boost to the USD/JPY pair and capped the early uptick near the 114.20 area. The downside, however, remains cushioned amid a further widening of the US-Japanese government bond yield differential.

In fact, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US government bond rose to 1.683%, or the highest level since May 13 on Thursday amid expectations for an early policy tightening by the Fed. The speculations were reinforced by comments from Fed Governor Christopher Waller, saying that the US central bank may have to act faster if inflation continues to run high through the remainder of this year.

Conversely, the yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond remained near zero due to the Bank of Japan's yield curve control policy. This warrants some caution for aggressive bearish traders and before positioning for any extension of the recent pullback from near four-year tops touched earlier this week.

Market participants now look forward to the release of flash US PMIs for a fresh impetus later during the early North American session. This, along with the US bond yields, will influence the USD price dynamics. Traders will further take cues from the broader market risk sentiment for some short-term opportunities around the USD/JPY pair.

Technical levels to watch

USD/JPY

Overview
Today last price	113.96
Today Daily Change	-0.01
Today Daily Change %	-0.01
Today daily open	113.97

Trends
Daily SMA20	112.51
Daily SMA50	110.88
Daily SMA100	110.53
Daily SMA200	109.12

Levels
Previous Daily High	114.42
Previous Daily Low	113.65
Previous Weekly High	114.46
Previous Weekly Low	112.16
Previous Monthly High	112.08
Previous Monthly Low	109.11
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	113.94
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	114.12
Daily Pivot Point S1	113.61
Daily Pivot Point S2	113.25
Daily Pivot Point S3	112.84
Daily Pivot Point R1	114.37
Daily Pivot Point R2	114.78
Daily Pivot Point R3	115.14

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

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

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