USD/JPY: Dwindling bets for a move to 145.00 – UOB

A potential advance to 145.00 in USD/JPY seems to be losing traction, comment Markets Strategist Quek Ser Leang and Senior FX Strategist Peter Chia at UOB Group.

Key Quotes

24-hour view: Yesterday, we held the view that USD “could edge higher, but any advance is expected to face solid resistance at 144.00”. USD then rose to 143.89 before staging a surprisingly sharp pullback (low was 142.05). The price actions appear to be part of a broad trading range. Today, we expect USD to trade between 142.00 and 143.50

Next 1-3 weeks: Our latest narrative was from two days ago (02 Aug, spot at 143.10) wherein, “while USD could continue to rise, it remains to be seen if there is enough momentum to carry it to June’s high near 145.00.” Yesterday, USD rose to a fresh 1-month high of 143.89 and then dropped close to our ‘strong support’ level of 142.00 (low of 142.05). Upward momentum is beginning to deteriorate, and the chance of USD rising to 145.00 is decreasing. A breach of the ‘strong support’ level would suggests USD could trade in a broad range for a period of time.