USD/JPY drops 1 big figure as risk-off returns post-China trade

A fresh bout of risk-aversion hit the markets after China trade data miss reinforced China downturn fears and bolstered the safe-haven yen against its American dollar.

USD/JPY rejected near 114.60

The Japanese yen fought back control and jumped nearly 100-pips against its US counterpart over the last hour, sending the rate sharply lower to fresh daily lows of 103.64. The pair is last seen exchanging hands at 103.80, quickly recovering some ground, although still down -0.38% on the day.

A worse-than expected Chinese trade figures spooked markets once again, and weighed heavily on the risk-associated space, dragging the USD/JPY pair sharply lower in tandem with the Japanese stocks. The Nikkei 225 index erased gains and now drops -0.30% to trade around 16,790 levels.

Markets digest the Chinese macro news and will closely track the RO-RO trends ahead of the weekly jobless claims data from the US due later in the NA session.

USD/JPY Technical levels to watch 

In terms of technicals , the immediate resistance is located at 104 (round figure). A break above the last, the major could test 104.50 (psychological levels) and 104.63 (3-month high) beyond the last. While to the downside, the immediate support is seen at 103.64 (daily low/ 5-DMA), next at 103.31 (10-DMA) and below that at 103.00 (key support).