USD/JPY May Dip Near Term, But Bulls Still Eye 36-Year High of 153
USD/JPY, one of the year’s favorite currency plays, could be on track to a 36-year high in favor of the US dollar, though the Japanese component of the pair could regain some strength in the near term.
Asian currencies caught a boost from better-than-expected Chinese economic data on Wednesday, driving the yuan to a one-week high and putting a damper on the dollar versus the yen as well.
At the time of writing, USD/JPY was moderately lower at 149.69, versus the session low of 149.84 and Tuesday’s close of 149.80.
The Dollar Index itself — which pits the greenback against six other majors, namely the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Swiss franc, Swedish krona, and Canadian dollar — was at 106.11. That was down 1.2% from the 11-month high of 107.35 set on Oct 3.
Charts by SKCharting.com, with data powered by Investing.com
Investing.com’s analysis of USD/JPY, in collaboration with SKCharting.com suggests a near-term target of 148.
Said Sunil Kumar Dixit, chief technical strategist at SKCharting:
“In the event of current Dollar Index weakness extends to 105.40 and below, we may witness a pull back in the dollar yen pair to 148.
Consolidation above horizontal support zone 149 and 148 may resume uptrend, which will likely target 153.”
That target would be no ordinary one. The last time the dollar traded at $153 versus the yen was in July 1987, when it hit 153.45.
Just two weeks ago, the Japanese government was in the news for its apparent — but never officially confirmed — intervention to prop up the yen to resist the year-low of 150.18 on Oct 3.
From a range of plausible scenarios examined by Investing.com, including that of Japanese currency officials playing bogeymen again to defend the yen, none seem to offer a
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