USDJPY stands at the front foot ahead of BoJ / Fed policy meetings

USDJPY has so far retraced over 50% of the recent 150.88/146.48 drop, in steep recovery that extends into fifth straight day.

Fresh strength emerged from profit-taking after the pair was sharply down on growing speculations that the BoJ would start tightening its monetary policy this month, with significant interest rate gap between two central banks, working in favor of dollar.

Near-term action was also supported by rising and thickening daily cloud which contained pullback and continued to underpin recovery, though technical studies are still mixed and lack firm direction signal.

All eyes are on next week’s policy meetings of BoJ and Fed, with Bank of Japan widely expected to end its ultra-low policy phase, while the US central bank is likely to remain on hold, but markets will be looking for fresh signals about the timing of the first rate cut.

Res: 149.20; 149.40; 150.00; 150.88
Sup: 148.68; 148.16; 147.87; 147.11