The spotlight is on the yen as Japan wages data starts to trickle through

In case you missed the headlines, you can check out Eamonn’s wrap earlier here. For now, it looks like the bigger corporations are meeting wage demands and that’s a good start. But policymakers would definitely want to see that spill over to smaller and medium-sized enterprises as well. USD/JPY is down slightly as such but not getting too carried away after yesterday’s surge higher:

The jump higher came after the US CPI data, which saw a rather chaotic reaction to say the least. But as the dust settles, USD/JPY failed to firmly clear the 148.00 mark and ultimately closed below its 100-day moving average (red line) of 147.63 as well. That gives sellers some room to work with for the remainder of the week.

The near-term chart shows the 100-hour moving average doing some work in the aftermath of the US CPI data. But that key level is being challenged now at 147.43 as sellers look to try and keep a more bearish near-term bias. Hold above that and the bias will remain more neutral for the day ahead.

As we await more headlines to trickle through, just be prepared of any leaks on the BOJ’s thoughts on that too over the next few days and going into the weekend. That is going to be a key risk factor to be mindful of for the yen before next week’s policy decision.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.