USD/JPY clings to gains near mid-109s, eyes on Wall Street opening bell

• Trade optimism boosts the risk appetite on Friday.
• US Dollar Index stays in consolidation channel above 96.
• Coming up: Industrial production and UoM consumer confidence data.

The USD/JPY pair continued to push higher after breaking above the 109 mark and touched its highest level in more than two weeks at 109.60. As investors are waiting for the Wall Street opening bell, the pair consolidates its gains in the upper-half of its daily range. As of writing, The pair was up 0.2% on the day at 109.45.

Hopes of the U.S. and China reaching a trade agreement and ending the conflict that hurt the global economy helped the market sentiment improve on the last day of the week and major European equity indexes rose sharply. At the moment, Germany's DAX is adding nearly 2% and the UK's FTSE is gaining around 1.7% on the day. Additionally, the S&P 500 Futures is up 0.5% to point to a positive start in Wall Street, which could make it difficult for safe-havens to find demand in the second half of the day.

Later in the session, the Fed will publish the industrial production and capacity utilization data and the University of Michigan will release its preliminary Consumer Sentiment Survey. Ahead of these data, the US Dollar Index stays virtually unchanged on the day above the 96 mark.

Technical levels to consider

With today's modest advance, the RSI indicator on the daily chart rose to 50 area, suggesting that buyers are looking to take control of the price action. On the upside, the pair could face the first resistance at 109.60 (daily high) ahead of 110 (psychological level) and 110.50 (Dec. 31 high). Supports, on the other hand, align at 108.90 (20-DMA), 108.40 (Jan. 16 low) and 107.75. (Jan. 10 low).