By: Barbara Zigah

The U.S. Dollar steadied against the Japanese Yen in Asian trading, returning some gains and cutting broad losses following yesterday’s Federal Reserve announcement which showed a more dovish sentiment than was expected. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that interest rates would be hold at the current levels until 2014 at the earliest, and that the central bank might consider more easing measures to stimulate the economy.

As reported at 12:01 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Yen was trading at 77.76 Japanese Yen after hitting a 2-month peak of 78.28 Japanese Yen in the overnight session on the EBS trading platform. One currency analyst from Tokyo expects that the U.S. Dollar’s topside has gotten too heavy and will have a hard time making any additional gains against the Japanese currency. Technical resistance is seen around 78.30 Japanese Yen with long term support at 77.53 Japanese Yen.

The U.S. Dollar also eased back slightly, trading at 79.463 .DXY; against the common currency Euro the U.S. Dollar was trading almost flat at $1.3105. The Euro could continue to fight for short term gains though upside challenges remain as concerns from Europe and a resolution to the debt crisis continue to be overwhelming.