For the second consecutive day, the USD/JPY pair is attempting to gain positive momentum, but there is a lack of confidence in sustained growth as traders remain cautious ahead of important U.S. inflation data, which will be released later this week.
In the meantime, the downward revision of Japan's second-quarter GDP continues to weigh on the Japanese yen, while the modest growth of the U.S. dollar provides support to the USD/JPY pair. However, diverging expectations regarding the policies of the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan are preventing investors from making aggressive purchases. As a result, the pair's upward potential remains limited.
From a technical perspective, the recent decline observed over the past four weeks has followed a downward channel, indicating a well-established short-term bearish trend. This supports the prospect of new selling opportunities at higher levels.
The negative outlook is reinforced by the fact that oscillators on the daily chart remain deep in negative territory and are still far from oversold levels.
Therefore, any subsequent upward movement may be seen as a selling opportunity, with the pair likely facing resistance around the 144.00 level. However, further buying pressure could trigger a short-covering rally, pushing USD/JPY towards the next resistance area around 144.55. Bullish momentum may extend further towards the psychological level of 145.00.
On the other hand, failure to hold the 142.85 level—the low of the Asian session—would confirm the bearish bias, exposing the key psychological level of 142.00.
