EUR/JPY nears 158.00 favoured by risk appetite and a dovish BoJ

• The Euro keeps crawling higher, favoured by the positive market mood 
• A dovish BoJ is weighing further on the Yen.
• EUR/JPY is testing 157.75 ahead of the key 158.55 level

The Euro keeps trading higher against a weak Japanese Yen on a calm post-Christmas session. The pair is paring previous losses fuelled by a risk-on mood and a dovish BoJ, that has frustrated market hopes of a major policy shift at December´s meeting.

The dovish BoJ outlook hurts the Yen

The BoJ Summary of options, released on Tuesday confirmed the diverging opinions among policymakers revealed in press releases earlier this month.  Some committee members advocate ending the ultra-loose policy while others are more cautious on the back of what they consider small risks to inflation.

Earlier this week, Governor Ueda failed to shed more light on the bank´s policy outlook. The BoJ chairman affirmed that any policy shift will be dependent on the progress on the inflation target, which has disappointed investors.

This scenario is favourable to the Euro, which is testing 157.75 resistance area at the moment of writing, with the next target above here, at 158.55, where the December 19 high meets the 50% Fibonacci retracement of the late-November sell-off.

Support levels are at 157.00 and 156.15. 

Technical levels to watch