USD/JPY gained over 1% after FED statement and Chinese PMI data

On Thursday US dollar extended gains versus the Japanese yen from yesterdays trade after FED Chairman Ben Bernanke statement on monetary policy.

USD/JPY pair hit 97.97 during the early European trade, currently the session high and highest since June 11th, after which consolidation followed at 97.87. The cross was up by over 1% for the day. Support was expected at current session low, 96.19, while resistance was to be encountered at June 11th high, 99.05.

US dollar advanced on a wide scale against its major peers after Ben Bernankes statement on Wednesday. He said, that the central bank may start unwinding its unprecedented bond-purchasing program this year and end it entirely in mid-2014, if the economy finally achieved the sustainable growth FED has sought since the end of the recession in 2009. The Federal Open Market Committee left the monthly size of asset purchases unchanged at 85 billion USD. The Federal Reserve Bank said it expected US economy to have grown between 2.3% and 2.6% in 2013, while unemployment rate to have fallen to between 6.5% and 6.8% by the end of 2014.

Earlier on Thursday it became clear that Japanese Leading Index slightly decreased to 99.0 in April, mismatching projections that there would be no change, compared to the previous month, when the index stood at 99.3. In addition, Coincident Index in Japan recorded a higher than expected value in April, 95.3 versus 94.8.

Meanwhile, Thursday also showed that China’s HSBC preliminary manufacturing purchasing managers’ index slid to a nine-month low at 48.3 in June from 49.2 in May, as new orders indicator fell, submitting a signal that deceleration in manufacturing sector has deepened.

Japanese yen was on lower levels against the euro as well, with EUR/JPY pair gaining 0.78% to 129.16. The Euro zone was expected to release preliminary data on manufacturing and service sector activity later today.