USD/JPY: targets 104 price zone - FXStreet

Valeria Bednarik, chef analyst at FXStreet explained that the USD/JPY pair surged above 103.00 for the  first time in a month on broad dollar's strength, bolstered by speculation that the US Federal Reserve is getting ready to raise rates.

Key Quotes:

"Data coming from Japan at the beginning of the day showed that the unemployment rate came in at 3% in July, a 21-year low, whilst retail sales surged by 1.4% in the same month and compared to the previous month, beating expectations of 0.8% and above an upwardly revised figure of 0.3% in the previous month. Year-on-year, retail sales were down 0.2%, while the market was expecting a contraction of 0.9%.

The pair fell down to a 101.74 on the news, but changed course afterwards, on high-yielders demand. Technically, the 1 hour chart shows that the price has been advancing steady, now well above its 100 and 200 SMAs, whilst indicators present strong bullish slopes within overbought territory, maintaining the risk towards the upside.  In the 4 hours chart, the price has broken above a horizontal 200 SMA for the first time in the month, while technical indicators head higher, also within overbought levels, supporting some further gains towards the 104.00 price zone."