USD/JPY surrenders early gains to 1-1/2 week tops

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

• Softer US bond yields prompt some profit-taking.
• Strong USD rebound/risk-on mood helps limit downside.

The USD/JPY pair erased all of its early gains to 1-1/2 week tops and has now retreated back to the lower end of its daily trading range, closer to the 113.00 handle.

With investors looking past Friday's downbeat US employment details, a follow-through US Dollar buying interest helped the pair to build on last week's rebound from the 112.00 neighborhood and lifted it to the highest since December 22.

The up-move now seemed losing steam and was being weighed down by a mildly softer tone around the US Treasury bond yields. However, the prevailing bullish sentiment around global equity markets, which tends to weigh on the Japanese Yen's safe-haven appeal, might now contribute towards limiting any deeper losses.

In absence of any major market moving economic releases from the US, the US bond yield dynamics might continue to act as a key determinant of the pair's movement on the first trading day of the week.

Technical levels to watch

A follow through weakness below the 113.00 handle might continue dragging the pair further towards the 112.60 intermediate support en-route the 112.25 horizontal level. On the upside, the 113.35-40 region might continue to act as an immediate hurdle, above which the pair is likely to surpass the 113.75 level and aim towards reclaiming the 114.00 handle.

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

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

EUR/USD retakes 1.1800 on renewed USD weakness

EUR/USD gains ground after three days of losses, re-attempting 1.1800in the European trading hours on Thursday. The US Dollar sees fresh selling interest across the board, despite hawkish Fed Minutes, as the market mood improves and supports the pair. US Jobless Claims data, Fedspeak and geopolitics remain in focus.

GBP/USD recovers above 1.3500 amid better mood

GBP/USD finds fresh demand and rises back above 1.3500 in the European session on Thursday. Improving risk sentiment and renewed US Dollar weakness are helping the pair recover ground ahead of mid-tier US data releases and Fedspeak.

Gold clings to gains above $5,000 amid safe-haven flows and Fed rate cut bets

Gold sticks to modest intraday gains, above the $5,000 psychological mark, through the first half of the European session, though it lacks bullish conviction amid mixed cues. The third round of US-mediated negotiations between Ukraine and Russia concluded in Geneva on Wednesday without any major breakthrough.

Injective token surges over 13% following the approval of the mainnet upgrade proposal

Injective price rallies over 13% on Thursday after the network confirmed the approval of its IIP-619 proposal. The green light for the mainnet upgrade has boosted traders’ sentiment, as the upgrade aims to scale Injective’s real-time Ethereum Virtual Machine architecture and enhance its capabilities to support next-generation payments. The technical outlook suggests further gains if INJ breaks above key resistance.

Hawkish Fed minutes and a market finding its footing

It was green across the board for US Stock market indexes at the close on Wednesday, with most S&P 500 names ending higher, adding 38 points (0.6%) to 6,881 overall. At the GICS sector level, energy led gains, followed by technology and consumer discretionary, while utilities and real estate posted the largest losses.