USDJPY refreshes 34-year high on BoJ’s dovish halt

Apr 26

USDJPY prints a three-day winning streak while rising to a fresh high since 1990 as it justifies the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) dovish halt. That said, the BoJ kept its benchmark rates unchanged, as expected, but omitted the mention of bond buying operations which were anticipated to suggest the Japanese central bank’s hawkish turn. With this, the Yen pair pokes an upward-sloping resistance line stretched from early December, around 155.90 at the latest. Given the overbought RSI conditions and the recently easing bullish bias of the MACD, the quote is likely to witness a pullback, which in turn highlights the 155.00 threshold and the mid-month peak surrounding 154.80. However, the bottom line of a six-week-old rising wedge bearish chart formation, close to 154.20 as we write, will be the key to watch for the seller’s entry. In a case where the pair remains weak past 154.20, a six-month-old horizontal support line near 151.70 will precede an area comprising multiple levels marked since early February, around 150.90-80, to challenge the pair bears. Above all, the USDJPY pair buyers should remain hopeful unless witnessing a daily closing beneath an ascending trend line from late December 2023, near 150.30 at the latest.

On the contrary, a successful upside break of the aforementioned multi-month-old resistance line surrounding 155.90 will need validation from the top line of a short-term rising wedge bearish chart formation, near 156.10. Should the USDJPY pair buyers ignore overbought RSI and keep the reins past 156.10, the odds of witnessing a gradual run-up toward the 160.00 psychological magnet and then to the year 1990 peak of 160.40 can’t be ruled out.

Overall, the USDJPY pair remains bullish beyond 150.30 but a short-term pullback appears overdue.