USD/JPY remains in consolidation mode around 113.00 mark

The USD/JPY pair has a muted reaction to US economic releases and maintained its softer tone below 113.00 handle.

Data release on Friday showed US international goods trade deficit expanded more than expected to $62.0 billion in October as compared to $56.0 billion in September and $59.2 billion expected. Meanwhile, wholesale inventories unexpectedly contracted by 0.4% in October, as the preliminary release revealed, versus expected rise of 0.3%.

Friday's economic data provided little impetus and the pair remained in consolidation mode after hitting fresh multi-month highs during early Asian session in the aftermath of softer Japanese CPI print. Nevertheless, the pair is still headed to post third consecutive week of strong gains.

Investors now look forward to next week's important economic releases from the US - prelim GDP growth rate and one of the most keenly watched, monthly jobs report, popularly known as NFP. 

Technical outlook

Valeria Bednarik, Chief Analyst at FXStreet, notes, "From a technical point of view, the pair is poised to correct lower, giving that in the 1 hour chart, technical indicators head south within bearish territory, although the movement seems corrective. A possible bearish target is a bullish 100 SMA, at 111.95. In the 4 hours chart, technical indicators are correcting from overbought levels, but remain well above their mid-lines and with the 100 and 200 SMAs heading sharply higher below the current level, supporting the shorter term view."

"Support levels: 112.55 112.20 111.95
Resistance levels: 113.20  113.60 113.95"

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