Yields moved higher and stock markets bounced back, as investors bought into hopes that the US and Iran will step back from deeper military conflict, despite two rockets exploding near the US Embassy in Baghdad last night.
Fears of an immediate escalation into war in the Mideast have been scaled back for now, following Trump’s address on Iran, although the situation clearly remains fragile. The president said Iran appears to be “standing down”, and made no mention of further US military actions. Iran’s overnight missile attack aimed at US forces in Iraq looked to be more of a face-saving operation than anything, and looks to have gone some way to calm markets.
Indeed, Wall Street has rallied sharply following the speech, while Oil prices have tanked. The risk-back-on reaction has been the main driver of USDJPY strength as well. The pair rose to 109.28 amid a broadly weaker Yen, from near 108.60 earlier.
After crossing the 20- , 50- and 200-day SMA yesterday, the asset looks ready to sustain the bullish sentiment in the near term as today’s move above Wednesday’s peak suggested more positive bias in the short term, even in the case of fading geopolitical tensions.
The key upside level comes at the 6-month high and December’s Resistance at 109.70. Hence it will be interesting to see if there is a break above at the end of the day/week. However, as we have already entered the European session bulls might face some short-term dips in the next few hours as the USDJPY presents overbought signs, with RSI testing the overbought barrier while the candles have been flirting with the upper BB line in the past 5 4-hour sessions. Immediate Support area is at 109.00-109.14.
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Andria Pichidi
Market Analyst
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