USD/JPY struggles to keep 104.00 as Nikkei 225 trims early gains

USD/JPY refreshes intraday low after stepping back from 104.23.
S&P 500 Futures print mild losses, US 10-year Treasury yields trying to stay positive.
Stimulus headlines, covid vaccine updates battle Brexit woes, virus fears.
Japan’s Foreign Reserves grew to $1,384.6B in November.

Anil Panchal FXStreet

USD/JPY drops to the intraday low of 104.11as markets in Tokyo open for Monday’s trading. The yen pair justifies the recent weakness in Nikkei 225, Japan’s headline equity index, while parting ways from Friday’s recovery moves.

Nikkei 225 initially rose to 26,887 before declining to 26,750, down 0.02%, within a few minutes of trading. Not only this, but S&P 500 Futures also eases from the record high above 3,700 to presently near 3,694.

The risk barometers seem to have reacted to the Brexit fears while consolidating Friday’s risk-on mood amid a lack of fresh updates on the US stimulus. On Friday, speculations over the American covid aid package gained momentum after November’s employment report marked a heavy drop in the headlines Nonfarm Payrolls to 245K versus 610k in October.

It’s worth mentioning that the vaccine hopes are getting stronger off-late. Russia announced the start of providing the cure to the deadly disease whereas the US and the UK are in the pipeline. Elsewhere, the tussle between the Western leaders and China continues with Australia recently bearing a major burden of it.

Talking about the data, Japan’s November’s Foreign Reserves rose from $1,384.4B to $1,384.6B. On a different page, Bloomberg came out with the news suggesting that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has taken over as the biggest owner of the nation’s stocks, with the total value of its holdings climbing well above $400 billion.

While the economic calendar is mostly silent during Asia, except China’s trade numbers for November, risk news will be the key for near-term direction. Among them, stimulus, vaccine and virus updates become important to watch.

Technical analysis

Only if the USD/JPY bulls manage to cross a one-month-old falling trend line near 104.50, they can aim for the last week’s peak surrounding 104.75 and the previous month’s high around 105.70. Until then, sellers can keep targeting the mid-November low near 103.65.

Additional important levels

Overview
Today last price	104.15
Today Daily Change	-0.01
Today Daily Change %	-0.01%
Today daily open	104.16

Trends
Daily SMA20	104.45
Daily SMA50	104.82
Daily SMA100	105.35
Daily SMA200	106.45

Levels
Previous Daily High	104.24
Previous Daily Low	103.74
Previous Weekly High	104.75
Previous Weekly Low	103.67
Previous Monthly High	105.68
Previous Monthly Low	103.18
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	104.05
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	103.93
Daily Pivot Point S1	103.85
Daily Pivot Point S2	103.54
Daily Pivot Point S3	103.35
Daily Pivot Point R1	104.36
Daily Pivot Point R2	104.56
Daily Pivot Point R3	104.87

Author

Anil Panchal

FXStreet

Anil Panchal has nearly 15 years of experience in tracking financial markets. With a keen interest in macroeconomics, Anil aptly tracks global news/updates and stays well-informed about the global financial moves and their implications.

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