Axel Rudolph, analyst at Commerzbank, notes that USD/JPY continues to trade in a tight range just below the 109.71/79 resistance zone, made up of the current December highs and also the November 2018 to 2019 downtrend line as well as the 200 week moving average.

"Only if the 109.71/79 area were to successfully be exceeded on a daily chart closing basis, would the 2015-2019 downtrend line at 110.38 be back in the picture. We expect it to cap, if reached, however. Support can still be seen between the 200- and 55-day moving averages as well as the current December low at 108.76/43. Only unexpected failure at 107.89 would probably trigger losses to the 106.48 October low. Failure at 106.48 would target the 106.00 mark. On a weekly chart close above the 2015-2019 downtrend line and the current December high at 109.72/73."