USDJPY refreshed its intraday high to 148.55, before retreating to 148.00, as the Bank of Japan (BoJ) matches market expectations of keeping the monetary policy unchanged. In doing so, the Yen pair struggles to keep the late Monday’s recovery from the 100-SMA amid the inactive hours of Tuesday’s trading. It’s worth noting that the hawkish expectations from BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda’s speech and the US Dollar’s consolidation join the nearly overbought RSI conditions to challenge the pair buyers. However, a convergence of the 100-SMA and bottom line of a one-month-old bullish trend channel, around 147.55-45, appears a tough nut to crack for the bears. Should the quote drop below 147.45, it becomes vulnerable to test 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the pair’s July-November upside, near 146.40, ahead of revisiting the mid-December peak of around 145.00.
Meanwhile, the USDJPY pair’s recovery needs to surpass Friday’s peak of around 148.80 to activate fresh buying. Following that, the 150.00 round figure and the top line of the aforementioned bullish channel, close to 150.50 at the latest, will test the Yen pair buyers. In a case where the quote remains firmer past 150.50, the previous yearly high marked in November at around 151.90 will be in the spotlight.
To sum up, the BoJ inaction failed to keep the Yen pair buyers on the board as policymakers in Japan appear fed up with the ultra-easy monetary policy.
