USD/JPY off session low, still in red below 50-DMA

After an initial downtick to 102.30, the USD/JPY pair has managed to recover from session low but remained capped below 50-day SMA to currently trade around mid-102.00s. 

The prevalent risk-off sentiment across Asian equity markets has been the key factor driving investors towards the perceived safety of Japanese Yen and restricting the USD/JPY major to build on to its recovery move from a two-week low touched last week. 

Meanwhile, the greenback continues to be driven by market expectations on Fed's next monetary policy action and hence, today's speech from the Fed Governor Lael Brainard would be closely scrutinized by market participants. Being one of the most dovish FOMC members, any hawkish signals would convince investors that the Fed would eventually announce further rate hike at its meeting on September 20-21 and would turn out to be highly supportive for the US Dollar. 

Technical levels to watch

On a sustained move above 102.65 (50-day SMA resistance) the pair now seems to break through 103.00 handle and head towards testing its next resistance near 103.30-35 horizontal area. On the flip side, reversal from immediate resistance, and a subsequent break below session low support near 102.20, is likely to drag the pair back towards 101.90 support area.