USD/JPY consolidates below 111.00 mark, Tuesday’s BOJ decision awaited

   •  USD continues to remain under pressure. 
   •  Surging US bond yields lend some support.
   •  BOJ decision awaited for fresh directional impetus. 

The USD/JPY pair has managed to hold its neck above daily lows but continued with its struggled to move back above the 111.00 handle. 

The pair opened with a bearish gap at the start of a new week and was being weighed down by the US government shutdown on Friday, which added to the already weaker sentiment surrounding the US Dollar. 

However, a strong follow-through upsurge in the US Treasury bond yields eased the bearish pressure and once again helped the pair to bounce off its immediate support near mid-110.00s.

Meanwhile, a mildly positive bias around equity markets, which tends to weigh on the Japanese Yen's safe-haven demand and remained supportive of the pair's modest recovery move through the mid-European session. 

The uptick, however, lacked any strong follow-through momentum as traders seemed reluctant to place aggressive bets ahead of the BOJ monetary policy decision, due to be announced during the Asian session on Tuesday. 

There aren't any major market-moving economic releases due for release from the US and hence, Tuesday's BOJ announcement could act as the next fundamental trigger determining the pair's next leg of directional move.

Technical outlook

Valeria Bednarik, American Chief Analyst at FXStreet writes: “The pair's 4 hours chart shows that the risk remains skewed toward the downside, as the price continues developing well below its 100 and 200 SMAs, with the shortest extending its slide, currently around 111.80. Technical indicators in the mentioned chart stand pat within bearish territory, reflecting the absence of directional strength. The pair bottomed these last couple of days at 110.50, making of the level the immediate support ahead of 110.20, the multi-month  low set last week.”