USD/JPY extends momentum further beyond 114.00 handle, eyeing 50-DMA barrier

The USD/JPY pair continued to gain traction for the fourth consecutive trading session and is now building on to its momentum back above 114.00 handle.

Currently trading around 114.15-20 band, the pair touched fresh two-week highs amid persistent US Dollar buying interest in wake of growing consensus that the Fed would go ahead and raise interest rates at its March meeting. In addition to this, resumption of Trump-reflation trade, following Tuesday's address to the Congress, is further supportive of the strong bullish sentiment surrounding the buck. 

Moreover, increasing investors' appetite for riskier assets, with all the three major US indices hitting fresh record highs on Wednesday, is further denting demand for traditional safe-haven assets, including the Japanese Yen, and collaborating to the pair's strong up-move, back closer to 50-day SMA strong hurdle. 

Apart from the usual release of initial weekly jobless claims data, the US economic docket lacks any relevant fundamental drivers and should thus, support additional appreciating move for the major ahead of Japanese CPI print during early Asian session on Friday.

Technical levels to watch

Immediate resistance on the upside is pegged at 50-day SMA, near 114.35-40 region, above which the pair is likely to aim towards reclaiming the 115.00 important psychological mark. On the flip side, retracement back below the 114.00 handle now seems to find support near 113.75-70 horizontal area and only a decisive weakness below this support would negate bullish bias and drag the pair towards 113.25-20 support area, en-route 112.80-75 support.