USD/JPY hits fresh session low, inching closer to 117.00 handle

The USD/JPY pair traded with bearish bias on Monday as investors preferred to lock-in some profits following last week's strong up-surge in wake of hawkish Fed statement. 

Currently trading around 117.20-15 region, testing session lows, the Japanese Yen got an initial boost from lower-than-expected drop in imports and exports, albeit the overall trade balance figures showed lower than expected merchandise trade balance. Moreover, the prevalent cautious mood around equity market is also lending support to traditional safe-haven assets, including Yen, and has led to some profit-taking slide ahead of the Christmas holidays. 

A relatively thin US economic docket on Monday, featuring the only release of flash Markit’s US services PMI print for December, is unlikely to provide any fresh trading clues for the pair ahead of the next big event risk, BoJ monetary policy decision on Tuesday. 

Technical levels to watch

Immediate downside support is pegged at 117.00 round figure mark below which the pair might extend the corrective slide towards 116.00 handle with 116.40-35 region acting as intermediate support. On the upside, renewed buying interest above 117.65 level seems to boost the pair towards session peak resistance near 118.00 region before the pair makes a move towards 118.20 resistance ahead of 118.40-60 multi-month highs resistance.