Price action in the U.S. dollar-Japanese yen was subdued throughout Tokyo and London trading hours yesterday, and for the first half of the New York session, but the price began to plunge in the second half, at around 3 a.m., and broke through the low of the day.

Ultimately it reached a low of 151.11 a little while after 4 a.m.

Today is a so-called "5/10 day" (a date ending in "5" or on a multiple of "10" on which Japanese companies often settle foreign exchange payments), but the yen trended down in the first half of the Tokyo session, and some time after 9 a.m. it hit a low of 150.81. From there it rebounded, and after midday the price was trading in the lower end of the 151-152 range.

The 60-minute chart of the yen (as of 00:40 on April 5) shows a repeated pattern of large downward movements followed by small retracements. In addition, the width of the Bollinger Bands is expanding, and the middle line is trending down.

(20-period Bollinger Band, showing +1 SD, +2 SD)

Today's main economic indicators are as follows.

• 21:30 U.S. March Nonfarm payrolls (MoM)
• 21:30 U.S. March Nonfarm payrolls (MoM)
• 21:30 U.S. March Average hourly earnings (MoM)
• 21:30 U.S. March Average hourly earnings (YoY)

Later at 9:30 p.m. we have the closely watched U.S. employment figures.