USD/JPY trades flat at Y108.74. The......>

DOLLAR-YEN: USD/JPY trades flat at Y108.74. The rate touched a session high of

Y108.85 early on but lost ground subsequently, posting a brief knee-jerk lower

as White House trade advisor Navarro struck a slightly hawkish note re: looming

Dec 15 deadline for tariffs on China.

- The Nikkei reported that Japan will have to sell Y2.0tn worth of

deficit-covering bonds to fund its 2019 extra budget.

- In the local data, Japanese PPI slowed in November, albeit less than expected.

Meantime, BSI Large indicated deterioration in Q4.

- Bulls look for a move above the psychological Y109.00 barrier, which capped

gains on Dec 5. A break here would open up the Dec 3 high of Y109.21. On the

flip side, a retreat under the 50-DMA at Y108.60 would prompt bears to target

Y108.43, which represents the lows of Dec 4 & Dec 9, and also the 50%

retracement of the Apr 24 - Aug 26 sell-off.

- Japanese focus turns to the local core machine orders (Thursday), as well as

final industrial output and Q4 Tankan Survey (Friday). BoJ Dep Gov Amamiya

speaks on Thursday.