USD/JPY Technical Analysis: Flirting with ascending trend-line support, bullish bias remains

• USD/JPY struggles to make it through the 109.70-75 resistance zone.
• The technical set-up support prospects for further appreciating move.

The USD/JPY pair struggled to build on its recent positive momentum and remained capped below the 109.70-75 region, or multi-month tops set earlier this December and retested last Friday. Meanwhile, the pullback, so far, has been limited near a support marked by a short-term ascending trend-line support, which should now act as a key pivotal point for intraday traders.

Given that the pair managed to attract some dip-buying interest near the very important 200-day SMA on Friday, the near-term set-up seems tilted in favour of bullish traders. Moreover, technical indicators on daily/hourly charts have managed to hold in the bullish territory, which further adds credence to the pair's near-term constructive outlook.

Hence, some follow-through buying has the potential to lift the pair towards reclaiming the key 110.00 psychological mark. The momentum could further get extended, though seems more likely to confront a stiff resistance and remain capped near another ascending trend-line extending from early August – currently near the 110.30 region.

On the flip side, any meaningful pullback might continue to find some support near the 109.00-108.90 region (200-DMA), which if broken might prompt some aggressive long-unwinding trade and accelerate the corrective slide further towards testing the 108.50-45 strong horizontal support.

USD/JPY 30-mins chart