USD/JPY last trades flat at Y111.40,.....>

DOLLAR-YEN: USD/JPY last trades flat at Y111.40, ahead of the release of

Japanese labour mkt data & Tokyo CPI at the bottom of the hour. Private capex

will follow at 2350GMT/0850JST. On Thursday, the rate added almost 40 pips on

the back of strong U.S. economic data and optimistic rhetoric re: a U.S. trade

deal with China from White House's top econ adviser Kudlow. U.S. GDP & Chicago

PMI topped forecasts, before Kudlow told CNBC that Washington and Beijing are on

the verge of signing a "remarkable historic deal," while BBG cited sources

familiar with the matter claiming that "U.S. officials are preparing a final

trade deal, that U.S. Pres Trump & Chinese Pres Xi could sign in weeks." USD/JPY

touched a fresh YTD high of Y111.49 in late NY trade.

- Worth noting MNI has learnt that the latest round of weak industrial output

data increased the BoJ's concerns re: econ slowdown. For full story see MNI Main

Wire at 23:00 GMT 02/28.

- Bulls look to the aforementioned fresh YTD high before challenging the upper

1.0% 10-DMA envelope at Y111.91. Conversely, bears need a fall below the 200-DMA

at Y111.33 before targeting the cloud Tenkan Sen at Y110.93.