The USD/JPY currency pair on Friday bounced off the 100-hour moving average to trade above 129.00 after the US manufacturing PMI. The currency pair had plunged earlier in the day to trade below 128.000.

The pair has now returned to trade within the ascending channel formation in the 60-min chart. However, it made a late pullback to prevent it from rallying into the overbought conditions of the 14-hour RSI.

USD/JPY Fundamentals Overview

From a fundamental perspective, the USD/JPY currency pair is trading at the back of a relatively busy period in both markets. On Friday, Japan’s Jubunk bank Services PMI for March beat the expectation of 49 with 50.5, while the manufacturing PMI missed 55.7 with 53.4. Earlier in the week, Japan’s National Consumer Price Index for March missed the (YoY) expectation of 1.3% with 1.2%, while the National CPI ex-food and energy outperformed -1.1% with -0.7% (Yoy). Elsewhere, March imports beat ex[pectations while exports fell short.

In the US, the preliminary S&P Global Manufacturing PMI for April outshone the expectation of 58.2 with 59.7. On the other hand, the Services PMI and the PMI composite, both missed estimates. On Thursday, the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing PMI returned a count of 17 compared to the expectation of 21. On the other hand, the initial jobless claims for the week ending April 15 missed 180k with a higher tally of 184k, while the continuing claims for the period ending April 8 beat 1.455 million with 1.417 million.

USD/JPY Technical Analysis (the 60-min Chart)

Technically, the USD/JPY currency pair seems to be trading within a gently ascending channel formation in the 60-min chart. This indicates a slight short-term bullish bias in the market sentiment.

Therefore, the bulls will be looking to stretch the current rally towards 128.732 or higher to 129.126. On the other hand, the bears will be looking to pounce for profits at about 128.112 or lower at 127.688.

USD/JPY Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)

In the daily chart, the USD/JPY currency pair also appears to be trading within a sharply ascending channel formation. This suggests there is a strong long-term bullish bias in the market sentiment.

Therefore, the bulls will be looking to pounce on long-term profits at about 129.362, or higher at 130.978. On the other hand, the bears will be targeting potential reversals at about 126.896, or lower at 125.365.