USD/JPY slides further to 117.00 neighborhood

The USD/JPY pair maintained its bearish bias on Wednesday but remained within weekly trading range amid mild greenback retracement. 

Currently trading around 117.30 region, having posted a session low at 107.10 level, the US Dollar Index extended its profit taking slide as traders continue to unwind the bullish positions ahead of the holiday season. The pair, however, remained within familiar trading range as hawkish Fed outlook for 2017 continues to lend support to the greenback and might limit any sharp corrective slide. 

Looking at the broader picture, the pair has been oscillating within 150-pips broader trading range in the past 5-trading session. This range-bound price-action could be categorized as near-term consolidation phase following the pair's strong up-surge over the past 7-weeks, to the highest level since early Feb. 

Investors now look forward to Thursday's key US macro data that includes - durable goods orders, final Q3 GDP print and the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, core PCE price index, which would provide fresh impetus for the pair's next leg of directional move. 

In the meantime, today's existing home sales data is expected to come-in at 5.5 million annualize pace for November, down 1% from previous month's 5.6 million units, and might help traders to grab some short-term trading opportunities. 

Technical outlook

Valeria Bednarik, Chief Analyst at FXStreet, notes, "In the 4 hours chart, the Momentum indicator has lost its upward strength after reaching its 100 level and turned flat around it, while the RSI indicator heads lower around 47, supporting some further declines ahead. Nevertheless, the decline is meant to be limited, given that in this last time frame, the 100 and 200 SMAs maintain their strong bullish slopes well below the current level."