Noguchi Plays It Safe

A weaker dollar saw JPY gain on Thursday, USD/JPY stuck to a narrow range by recent standards, the pair closed around 10 pips lower on the day at 110.62.

• Late yesterday Japanese PM Suga announced plans to put Osaka, Hyogo and Miyagi under stricter virus containment measures, the measures will apply from April 5 to May 5.
• New BoJ member Noguchi spoke after market yesterday, he said he was supportive of the BoJ's policy, he said for now he would refrain from making policy suggestions. Noguchi, who joined the board in February, is an academic known as a vocal advocate of heavy money printing.
• From a technical perspective USD/JPY is holding onto recent gains and remains bullish. The climb on Mar 26 above 109.36, the Mar 15 high confirmed a resumption of the uptrend and note, 109.56 has been breached, a key retracement - 76.4% of the Mar 2020 - Jan downleg. This sets the scene for a climb towards 111.30 next, Mar 26, 2020 high. Overbought conditions are still not impacting this trend and instead continues to reinforce current sentiment. 108.41 is key support.
• Monetary base data is the domestic data highlight today, due at 0050BST/0750HKT. Several markets are closed for holiday's today, (details available in previous bullets), which is expected to keep newsflow light and volumes thin during the session. USD/JPY is expected to move as a function of the greenback ahead of US NFP data later on Friday.