USD/JPY steadily climbs back above mid-109.00s, fresh session tops

• A goodish pickup in the USD demand assisted USD/JPY to attract some buying near 50-day SMA.
• Bulls seemed rather unaffected by the ongoing decline in the US bond yields and a softer risk tone.

The USD/JPY pair built on its steady intraday ascent and moved back above mid-109.00s during the first half of the European session.

The pair attracted some dip-buying near 50-day SMA and for now, seems to have stalled its recent pullback from two-month tops, around the 110.30-35 region touched last week. This marked the first day of a positive move in the previous three sessions and was exclusively sponsored by a goodish pickup in the US dollar demand.

Friday's softer NFP print tempered market expectations that the Fed could begin tapering its asset-purchases sooner rather than later. Investors, however, remain worried about rising inflationary pressure. This, in turn, held traders from placing fresh bearish bets around the USD, rather prompted some short-covering move.

Bulls seemed rather unaffected by the ongoing decline in the US Treasury bond yields and a softer tone surrounding the equity markets, which tend to benefit the safe-haven Japanese yen. Even Tuesday's less worse than anticipated Japanese Q1 GDP report also did little to lend any support to the JPY or hinder the positive move.

Market participants now look forward to a relatively thin US economic docket, featuring the release of Trade Balance figures and JOLTS Job Openings. This, along with the US bond yields, might influence the USD price dynamics. Apart from this, the broader market risk sentiment might further provide some impetus to the USD/JPY pair.

Technical levels to watch