USD/JPY reclaims 148.00 in reaction to BoJ’s decision to maintain status quo

• USD/JPY attracts fresh buying on Friday and maintains its bid tone after the BoJ policy decision.
• The Japanese central bank left monetary policy setting unchanged and offered no forward guidance.
• The Fed’s hawkish outlook continues to underpin the USD and remains supportive of the move up.

The USD/JPY pair regains positive traction during the Asian session on Friday and the buying interest picks up pace after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) announced its policy decision. Spot prices climb back above the 148.00 mark in the last hour and remain well within the striking distance of the YTD peak touched on Thursday.

The Japanese central bank, as was widely anticipated, decided to leave its monetary policy settings unchanged and fell short of offering any forward guidance. This marks a big divergence in comparison to the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) hawkish outlook, which continues to underpin the US Dollar (USD) and acts as a tailwind for the USD/JPY pair. The Fed signalled the possibility of at least one more rate hike by the end of this year and the updated projections show significantly tighter rates through 2024 than previously expected.

This, along with an unexpected drop in the US Weekly Jobless Claims, pushes the yield on the rate-sensitive two-year US government bond to a fresh 17-year peak. Moreover, the 10-year US Treasury yield climbs to the highest since November 2007 and continues to underpin the Greenback. That said, the possibility of the Japanese government intervening in foreign exchange markets might hold back bullish traders from placing fresh bets around the USD/JPY pair.

In fact, the government’s top spokesperson issued a fresh warning against the recent JPY weakness and said on Thursday that Japan will not rule out any options in addressing excess volatility in currency markets. Investors might also prefer to wait on the sidelines and look to BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda’s comments for a possible shift in the dovish stance.

Technical levels to watch