<p style=““ class=“text-align-justify“>The start of the week saw a gap higher in the pair as it seems like the government is teeing up BOJ deputy governor Amamiya to be the successor to Kuroda at the central bank. While the jump is encouraging, it still doesn’t really take away from the downside trend that has been persisting since late October last year.</p><p style=““ class=“text-align-justify“>The sequence of lower highs, lower lows is still relatively intact and I would argue that it will take a push back above 135.00 from here to invalidate that pattern and pose some added questions.</p><p style=““ class=“text-align-justify“>Otherwise, as mentioned <a target=“_blank“ href=“https://www.forexlive.com/news/mind-the-gap-20230206/“ target=“_blank“ rel=“follow“>here</a>, there are still reasons for sellers to stick with their conviction for a push lower in USD/JPY in the months ahead.</p><p style=““ class=“text-align-justify“>The push lower today isn’t much as it just eats a bit into the gap higher from yesterday. All eyes will be on Fed chair Powell’s speech/interview later today but just be mindful that if there are more headlines on the potential next BOJ governor, that will also impact the yen side of the equation.</p><p style=““ class=“text-align-justify“>As things stand, there is still ongoing pressure on 10-year JGB yields at the 0.50% ceiling and that continues to tell the story that markets remain convinced of some form of policy change by the Japanese central bank down the road.</p>

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.