USD/JPY pushing past 151.00 as Greenback grinds higher against Yen

• The USD/JPY is pushing higher on Thursday. testing territory north of 151.00.
• Late break in USD fueled by spike in US Treasuries.
• Japan trade balance data missed the mark, further eroding Yen.

The USD/JPY is twisting for further gains on Thursday, looking for further bids above the 151.00 handle.

A topside break in US Treasuries is seeing the US Dollar find a fresh round of bidding on Thursday, and the USD/JPY notched in a fresh intraday high near 151.30. Treasury yields knocked higher on reaction following lower-than-expected institutional demand in a 30-year US bond auction.

St. Louis Federal Reserve (Fed) President Kathleen Paese is also hitting newswires with concerns that overall public expectations may be misaligned with the current path of Fed policy moving forward. St. Louis Fed President Paese’s comments are likely to have limited effect, with Paese acting as an interim replacement with no voting power in the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

Japan Current Account figures failed to meet expectations early Thursday, with the non-seasonally-adjusted headline Current Account for September printing at JPY 2.723 trillion, falling short of the expected 3 trillion but still managing to squeeze out a small improvement over August’s 2.279 trillion.

USD/JPY Technical Outlook

The Dollar-Yen pairing is currently in play around the 151.00 handle, looking for a topside continuation as the USD continues to push up and over the JPY.

Near-term action has the pair slowing down from its recent pace of bullish momentum, with the 50-hour Simple Moving Average (SMA) beginning to catch up to intraday bids, but the pair remains in a firmly bullish tilt with the 200-hour SMA down near 150.40, with enough space in between for a pullback to signal a potential bidding opportunity for investors looking to jump in and make a fresh challenge.

USD/JPY Hourly Chart

USD/JPY Technical Levels