Yen advances further on increased safe-haven demand

The USDJPY broke below psychological 130.00 support on Friday, hitting the levels last traded on Feb 10.

The pair is holding firmly in red, on track for the fourth consecutive weekly loss, fueled by increased safe-haven demand.

Growing uncertainty over the simmering crisis in banking sector sparked fresh sales of European banking shares on Friday, sending a shockwave through the markets and prompting traders to accelerate migration into safer assets.

Demand for safe-haven yen was additionally boosted by a record purchase of Japanese government bonds after the Bank of Japan kept its ultra-loose policy unchanged

Bears look for close below cracked supports at 130.00/129.74 (psychological / Fibo 76.4% of 127.22/137.90 rally) to confirm fresh negative signals and extend towards 128.08 (Feb 2 higher low) and key supports at 127.26/22 (50% retracement of larger 102.59/151.94 uptrend / 2023 low, posted on Jan 16).

Daily studies are in full bearish mode but overextended, suggesting that bears may pause for consolidation, before stronger push through 130.00 support.

Broken former strong support at 131.30 (Fibo 61.8% of 127.22/137.90) which recently kept bears limited for three straight days, reverted to significant resistance and expected to ideally keep the upside limited.

Res: 130.53; 130.93; 131.30; 132.21
Sup: 129.74; 129.02; 128.08; 127.22