On Friday of last week the USDJPY fell without exceeding the high of 147.81 reached at GMT 23:10 the previous day. It temporarily hit a low of 146.26 shortly after GMT 14:30.

After this significant sell-off the market seemed to move sideways without a clear trend. Having said that, it remained a highly volatile market with a range between high and low of around 1.5 yen.

With the Tokyo market closed today, the USDJPY lacked momentum in the first half of the session, moving in a narrow price range centered on 147 yen.

Looking at the 1-hour chart of the USDJPY (as of GMT 03:10 on August 12), the continuation of the range-bound market is easy to see. It seems reasonable to conclude that this trendless state will persist until the price moves firmly past recent highs or lows.

(20-period Bollinger Band, showing ±1 and ±2 standard deviations)

Today's main economic indicators are as follows.

• GMT 18:00 U.S. July Monthly Budget Statement