Japan Mulls Extending Covid-19 State Of Emergency Beyond Month-End

USD/JPY has held a 18 pip range so far and last trades little changed at Y108.98, after finishing last week on the back foot. Little to rock the boat seen over the weekend, with domestic focus still on Covid-19 emergency matters.

• Yomiuri reported this morning that Japan plans to extend Covid-19 state of emergency beyond the end of the month. The piece came on the heels of Chief Cabinet Sec Kato's appearance on a NHK programme Sunday, during which the off'l signalled that such an option would be discussed. Kato also suggested that in the case of extension, the new deadline would probably match the expiration of Osaka's state of emergency, which falls on Jun 20.
• Elsewhere, unnamed sources told Kyodo that the organisers of Tokyo Olympics were leaning towards allowing some domestic spectators to attend the event, but holding the games without audience would remain an option until the last minute, as officials would continue to monitor the Covid-19 situation.
• Looking into the local data docket, focus turns to final machine tool orders (Tuesday) as well as unemployment & Tokyo CPI (Friday).
• From a technical perspective, a dip through May 7 low of Y108.34 would open up Apr 23 low of Y107.48. On the flip side, gains past May 13 high of Y109.79 would expose Apr 9 high of Y109.96.