USD/JPY: Aggressive selling drags it to 102.10, risk-off returns

A renewed bout of risk-aversion gripped the markets during the European hours after oil prices fell back in the red, thereby boosting the safe-haven bids for the yen across the board.

USD/JPY tracks GBP/JPY lower

The USD/JPY pair halted its consolidative phase around 102.40 levels and ran through fresh sellers as the Japanese yen regained poise amid renewed risk-aversion wave, triggered by lower oil and European equity markets.

Moreover, accelerating of the losses in GBP/JPY after the rate breached 135 support, sparked fresh yen buying across the board, further justifying the move lower in the USD/JPY pair. At the time of writing, USD/JPY recovers slightly from session lows reached at 102.13, still up 0.19% on the day. The major last traded at 102.21 levels.

Next of note for the major remains the US ISM manufacturing data and other second-liner US releases, which will be published later in the NA session.

USD/JPY Technical levels to watch

In terms of technicals , the immediate resistance is located at 103 (round number). A break above the last, the major could test 103.45 (5-DMA). While to the downside, the immediate support is seen at 102 (round number) and below that at 101.43 (Jul 5 low).