The USD/JPY currency pair on Friday extended gains to a new 2023 high of about 134.983 following the latest round of data. The currency pair continues to trade within an ascending channel formation in the 60-min chart.
The currency pair remains several levels above the 100-hour moving average line. As a result, it remains in the overbought levels 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 the US market. On Thursday, the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey for February missed the expected reading of -7.4 with a reading of -24.3. On the other hand, the initial jobless claims for the week ending February 10 outshone the expected claim count of 200k with a lower tally of 194k.
The producer price index ex-food and energy for February also outshone the estimated (YoY) change of 4.9% with a change of 5.4%, while both Building Permits and Housing Starts missed the forecasts of 1.35 million and 1.36 million, respectively with a tally of 1.339 million and 1.309 million.
In Japan, January exports outperformed the expected (YoY) change of 0.8% with a change of 3.5%, while imports missed the forecasted change of 18.4% with a change of 17.8%. Elsewhere, Machinery orders for December missed both the (MoM) and (YoY) expectations of 3% and -6%, respectively with a change of 1.6% and -6.6%, while Merchandise Trade Balance for January came in stronger at -3,496.6 billion yen compared to an estimated balance of -3,871.5 billion yen.
USD/JPY Technical Analysis (the 60-min Chart)
Technically, the USD/JPY currency pair appears to be trading within an ascending channel formation in the 60-min chart. This indicates a significant short-term bullish bias in the market sentiment.
Therefore, the bulls will be looking to ride the current rally towards 135.593 or higher to 136.158. On the other hand, the bears will be targeting potential pullback profits at about 134.296 or lower at 133.710.
USD/JPY Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)
In the daily chart, the USD/JPY currency pair appears to be trading within an ascending channel formation. This indicates a significant long-term bullish bias in the market sentiment.
Therefore, the bulls will be targeting extended gains at about 137.682 or higher at 140.192. On the other hand, the bears will look to pounce on long-term profits at about 132.661 or lower at 130.150.