USD/JPY looks for third straight day of gains as BOJ stays the course

<p>As a result of leaving policy unchanged <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/centralbank/bank-of-japan-leaves-negative-rates-and-ycc-1-ceiling-rate-unchanged-20231219/" target="_blank" rel="follow">here</a>, USD/JPY jumped up by roughly 100 pips and is consolidating gains around 143.50 now. Of note, the pair is in the hunt for a third straight day of gains – first since over a month ago – and is keeping above its 200-day moving average (blue line) of 142.60:</p><p>That is putting buyers back in the game after what looked to be a technical breakdown to the downside. The recovery in the pair came after the dollar rebounded on Friday last week, helped out by Fed policymakers' remarks that rate cuts are not imminent just yet. And the BOJ disappointment once again adds to the recent bounce as such.</p><p>The near-term chart also shows the pair pushing back above its 100-hour moving average at 142.80 but sellers can still lean on the 200-hour moving average at 144.04 to keep the downside pressure. For buyers, they must break above that to see any return of a test towards 145.00 next.</p><p>So far, the slide in bond yields look to be pausing a little and that is also helping USD/JPY steady itself this week. 10-year Treasury yields are at 3.94%, consolidating just above 3.90% after the big plunge last week.</p>

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