• The Japanese Yen draws some support from intervention fears, albeit lacking bullish conviction.
• The US-Japan rate differential and a positive risk tone seem to undermine the safe-haven JPY.
• The USD/JPY bulls might wait for a break through a short-term range before placing fresh bets.

The Japanese Yen (JPY) ticks higher against its American counterpart during the Asian session on Thursday and looks to build on the previous day's modest bounce from the vicinity of a multi-decade low. The increasing threat of intervention by Japanese authorities continues to lend some support to the domestic currency. Apart from this, the overnight US Dollar (USD) slump to a near one-week low further contributed to capping the USD/JPY pair near the 152.00 round-figure mark.

A report published by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on Wednesday showed that growth in the US service sector continued to lose momentum in March. This lifts bets that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will start cutting rates in June, triggering a sharp fall in the US Treasury bond yields, and weighing heavily on the Greenback. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) cautious approach towards further policy tightening suggests that the gap between US and Japanese rates will stay wide.

This, along with a fresh leg up in the equity markets, should keep a lid on any meaningful appreciating move for the safe-haven JPY and limit the downside for the USD/JPY pair. Traders might also refrain from placing aggressive directional bets and prefer to wait for more cues about the Fed's rate-cut path. Hence, the focus will be on the release of the US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report on Friday. In the meantime, speeches by influential FOMC members might provide some impetus on Thursday.