USD/JPY slides further, now eyeing to test 113.00 handle

The USD/JPY pair remained under intense selling pressure during early European session on Tuesday and has now moved within striking distance of 113.00 handle.

Persistent worries over Brexit coupled with uncertainty over President-elect Donald Trump's fiscal stimulus plans triggered a fresh wave of risk-aversion across global financial markets and is benefitting the Japanese Yen's safe-haven demand and collaborated to the pair's sharp slide to the lowest level since December 8.

Moreover, possibilities of some near-term stops being triggered and (or) fresh selling interest on a sustained break below 50-day SMA support also seems to have aggravated the selling pressure. At the time of writing, the pair was trading around 113.25-30 region, having dropped to a fresh session low near 113.10 region. 

Today's speech by UK PM Theresa May is expected to trigger a fresh bout of volatility in the FX market, which would eventually derive Yen's safe-haven demand and provide fresh impetus for the major. Later during NA session, Empire state manufacturing index and Fedspeak would also be looked upon for some immediate respite for the US Dollar bulls. 

Technical levels to watch

Immediate support on the downside is pegged at 113.00 round figure mark, which if broken has the potential to accelerate the fall towards 112.85 intermediate support ahead of 112.50-45 important horizontal support. On the upside, 50-day SMA near 113.70 region now becomes immediate resistance, which if cleared might trigger a short-covering bounce towards 114.00 handle, en-route session peak resistance near 114.30 area.