The USD/JPY pair stalled its early European session recovery move just ahead of the 113.00 handle and is now headed back towards the lower end of its daily trading range.
The Japanese Yen rose sharply on Tuesday after the Bank of Japan trimmed its purchases of long-dated government bonds and fueled speculations that the central bank could start to wind down its massive stimulus policy later this year.
The pair extended previous session's retracement slide from 1-1/2 week tops, defying strong follow-through US Dollar strength, and now seems to have encountered strong resistance near the 112.95 region.
Meanwhile, a subdued trading action around European equity markets and bullish US Treasury bond yields, amid growing bets over additional Fed rate hike moves in 2018, did little to influence the pair's movement on Tuesday.
With the only scheduled release of JOLTS job openings data, today's US economic docket lacks any major market moving releases and hence, a follow-through weakness, led by additional long-unwinding pressure, now looking a distinct possibility.
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Technical levels to watch
Weakness below mid-112.00s could get extended towards 112.25 intermediate support en-route the 112.00 handle. On the upside, the 112.95-113.00 region now seems to have emerged as an immediate hurdle, above which the pair is likely to make a fresh attempt to clear 113.35-40 supply zone.