USD/JPY well bid near mid-112.00s, inching back closer to 2-month tops

The USD/JPY pair was seen building on to overnight strong gains and has now moved within striking distance of over two-month tops, touched last Thursday. 

The US Dollar held on to overnight strong gains led by the Fed Chair Janet Yellen's comments, which reinforced market expectations for another rate hike move in 2017, and drove the pair higher through early European session on Wednesday.

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Adding to this, easing geopolitical tensions and a slight improvement in investors' risk appetite, as depicted by a modest uptick in the US Treasury bond yields, was further seen weighing on the Japanese Yen's safe-haven appeal and collaborated to the pair's move towards mid-112.00s.

Investors now look forward to the US economic docket, featuring the key release of US durable goods order and pending home sales data, for some fresh trading impetus during early NA session.

Later today, the Fed Governor Lael Brainard's scheduled speech would also influence the USD price-dynamics and might provide some short-term trading opportunities.

Technical levels to watch

A follow through up-move is likely to confront immediate resistance near 112.70 level, above which the pair seems all set to aim towards reclaiming the 113.00 handle before heading towards its next hurdle near the 113.30 region.

On the flip side, any retracement from higher levels now seems to find immediate support at the very important 200-day SMA, near the 112.10 region, which is broken might turn the pair vulnerable to head back towards mid-111.00s.