The Nikkei should open with a defensive tone, despite a strong USD/JPY on Friday

The Nikkei should open with a defensive tone, despite a strong USD/JPY on Friday. USD/JPY has opened on the back foot in early Asia trade, and to me this gives a clearer indication of the index open, with traders preferring to be long the JPY in times of stress. At 10:50 we get a whole raft of data with final Q4 GDP (expected to be revised down modestly to 0.9%), while we also get the January current account, which will be predominantly driven by a worsening of the trade deficit. USD/JPY closed above the January downtrend and looked fairly constructive, so it will be interesting if the bulls can support today.