USD/JPY climbs to fresh weekly tops, above mid-111.00s

   •  JPY weighed down by reports that the Japanese government might downgrade in economic assessment.
   •  Bullish traders further took cues from a goodish pickup in the US bond yields/reviving USD demand.
   •  Investors’ focus now shifts to the latest BoJ monetary policy update, due to be announced on Friday.

The USD/JPY pair caught some fresh bids during the Asian session on Thursday and climbed to weekly tops, just above mid-111.00s in the last hour.

After yesterday's modest pull-back to the 111.00 neighborhood, a combination of supporting factors assisted the pair to make a fresh attempt to build on the momentum further beyond the very important 200-day SMA. 

Reports that the Japanese government is considering a slight downgrade in its monthly economic assessment report for March, citing falling exports and slower demand from China, weighed heavily on the Japanese Yen.

Bullish traders further took cues from a goodish rebound in the US Treasury bond yields, which coupled with a sharp retracement in the British Pound, helped revive the US Dollar demand and remained supportive of the up-move.

Meanwhile, risk sentiment remained rather tepid so far, though did little to provide any meaningful boost to the Japanese Yen's safe-haven demand and hinder the pair's goodish intraday positive momentum.

With a relatively thin US economic docket, the bond yield dynamics might continue to act as a key driver of the pair's momentum ahead of the latest BoJ monetary policy update during the Asian session on Friday.

Technical outlook

As Omkar Godbole - FXStreet's own Analyst and Editor, writes, “it seems safe to say that the pullback from 112.14 has ended and the outlook as per the 4-hour chart has again turned bullish. As a result, resistances lined up at 111.86 and 112.14 stand exposed. The bullish case would weaken if the pair falls back and holds below 111.46. On the downside, a break below 111.00 is needed to revive the bearish view.”