USD/JPY weaker below 114.00 handle after US NFP

The USD/JPY pair came under fresh selling pressure and dropped closer to session low following the release of US NFP data. The pair, however, has managed to recover bounce off lows and is currently trading around 113.80 region. 

The pair lost its recovery momentum after the US Labor Department reported that economy added 178K new jobs in November. The reading was slightly better-than 175K expected and 161K jobs in October. 

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate surprisingly dropped to a nine-year low level of 4.6% and average hourly earnings unexpectedly contracted by 0.1% m-o-m. 

With December Fed rate-hike fully priced-in, today’s NFP data did little to lift market expectations of further rate-hike actions in 2017 and exerted some selling pressure around the major. 

Technical levels to watch

Immediate support is pegged at 113.30 level below which the pair is likely to extend the corrective slide towards testing sub-112.00 handle (111.90 support area) with 112.45-35 region acting as intermediate support. On the upside, sustained momentum above 114.40-45 immediate resistance is likely to boost the pair beyond 114.80-85 area (Thursday's multi-month high) towards testing 115.00 psychological mark.