USD/JPY Price Analysis: Bounces off daily low, shows some resilience below 147.00 mark

• USD/JPY remains under some selling pressure for the second straight day amid weaker USD.
• The intraday slide shows some resilience below the 23.6% Fibo. level, around the 147.00 mark.
• Any meaningful upside might confront a stiff barrier and remain capped near the 100-hour SMA.

The USD/JPY pair recovers a few pips from the daily low and is currently trading just above the 147.00 mark, still in the red for the second successive day.

The US dollar plummets to a one-month low during the first half of the European session on Wednesday and turns out to be a key factor exerting downward pressure on the USD/JPY pair. Expectations that the Fed will be forced to soften its hawkish stance amid the deteriorating US economic outlook lead to a further decline in the US Treasury bond and continues to weigh on the buck.

Apart from this, the recent market intervention by the Japanese government offers some support to the domestic currency and further contributes to the offered tone around the USD/JPY pair. Spot prices, however, show resilience below the 147.00 mark, which coincides with the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level of a sharp fall from highest-level August 1990 touched last Friday.

From current levels, any subsequent move up is more likely to confront stiff resistance near the 147.60 region ahead of the 148.00 mark. The latter represents 38.2% Fibo. level, above which the USD/JPY pair could surpass the 148.35-148.40 intermediate hurdle and climb to the 50% Fibo. level, around the 148.75 zone, before testing the 100-hour SMA near the 149.00 round figure.

On the flip side, sustained weakness below the 147.00 mark could be seen as a fresh trigger for bearish traders and pave the way for deeper losses. The USD/JPY pair might then accelerate the fall towards the 146.30 support en route to the 146.00 mark. Spot prices could eventually drop to the next relevant support around the 145.45 region, or the weekly swing low touched on Monday.

USD/JPY 1-hour chart

Key levels to watch