Yesterday the USDJPY was affected by the political uncertainty generated by the House of Representatives election, resulting in strengthened selling of the yen, which rose to 153.88 shortly after GMT 01:30. It subsequently reversed, and that downward trend continued during European trading hours.

Not long after GMT 12:00 the decline ran out of steam upon hitting 152.40, and the market returned to the 153-yen range at some point past GMT 15:00. Trading for the day closed at 153.27 yen.

Today the USDJPY initially trended down, falling below 153 yen at around GMT 00:50, but it stopped falling after GMT 01:00, and as of GMT 04:00 had returned to the 153-yen range.

Looking at the 1-hour chart of the USDJPY (as of GMT 03:40 on October 29), the bands have tightened to the area around the middle line, leaving little clear sense of market direction.

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

Today's main economic indicators are as follows.

• GMT 13:00 U.S. August Case-Shiller home price index (YoY)
• GMT 14:00 U.S. September JOLTS Job Openings
• GMT 14:00 U.S. October Consumer Confidence Index (Conference Board)