USD/JPY cut earlier gains

Japanese yen advanced against 15 out of its 16 major peers on Thursday, as Japanese shares declined, boosting safe haven demand for national currency.

USD/JPY slid to a session low at 99.76 at 6:46 GMT, after which consolidation followed at 99.90. Support for the pair was expected at July 23rd low, 99.13, while resistance was to be encountered at July 22nd high, 100.61.

On Thursday the MSCI Asia Pacific index of shares decreased by 0.7%, marking a second day of decline. “A drop in stocks has the yen locked right around 100 per dollar,” said Tsutomu Soma, a manager of Rakuten Securities Inc.’s fixed-income business unit department in Tokyo, cited by Bloomberg. “Investors are waiting for fresh news out of the U.S.”, he also added.

“The dollar is facing selling pressure at the 100.90 yen level,” said Mike Jones, a Wellington-based currency strategist at Bank of New Zealand Ltd. “Recent trading in dollar-yen indicates a market that is lacking conviction.”, as imparted by Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, demand for the greenback remained stable, following the optimistic housing data from the United States, released on Wednesday, which added to expectations that FED may be closer to tapering its Quantitative Easing. The Commerce Department of the United States said in a report that new home sales climbed to a five-year high in June, up by 8.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual number of 497 000 units.

Later in the trading day the United States was expected to release information, regarding durable goods orders, which are a major component of the general factory orders in the country, as better than expected results may give additional support to demand for the national currency. Additionally, the weekly report on initial jobless claims will show the tendency in the US labor market.

Elsewhere, the yen surged against the euro, as EUR/JPY cross retreated 0.35% to trade at 131.91 at 8:40 GMT.

Ultimately, Japanese yen has erased 3.5% during the past month, the largest decrease among 10 developed-market currencies, tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes.