USD/JPY last sits at Y108.79,............>

DOLLAR-YEN: USD/JPY last sits at Y108.79, marginally lower on the day, ahead of

the release of flash Japanese GDP within the next 20 minutes.

- On Wednesday, the pair edged higher initially only to slide in London hours

amid fresh rounds of risk-off flows. Wariness linked to the Hong Kong goings on

and U.S.-China trade uncertainty weighed on sentiment. A fresh WSJ report

stating that U.S.-China talks "hit a snag over farm purchases" capped a recovery

attempt late doors, keeping the rate at depressed levels.

- A dip through the channel support at Y108.54 would allow bears to target the

50-DMA, which intersects at Y108.18. Meanwhile, bulls look for a rebound above

the 200-DMA at Y109.02 before focusing on the Oct 30 & Nov 12 highs of Y109.29.

- Japanese PM Abe has called off an annual cherry blossom viewing event amid

allegations of distributing invitations as political favours. Abe is determined

to avoid political controversies ahead of a key vote on Tokyo's trade deal with

the U.S. in Japanese parliament.

- Looking into the Japanese docket, final industrial output comes out on Friday.