AUD/JPY treading water ahead of Westpac Consumer Confidence, testing 84.70
- AUD/JPY flat in Asia trading following a weak Tuesday session.
- Australia Westpac Consumer Confidence data due shortly at 23:30 GMT.
AUD/JPY is trading calmy in the overnight session, testing the waters around 84.70.
Australia will be releasing their figures for the Westpac Consumer Confidence survey at 23:30 GMT today, which is a gauge of consumer confidence in economic conditions looking forward. A higher reading over the previous 1.8% would imply growing consumer confidence in the Australian economy in regards to family financing and housing costs. Looking ahead, employment data for Australia will be dropping on Thursday at 01:30 GMT; The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is lagging behind other major central banks in their expectations for when they will begin increasing interest rates, as economic growth in Australia has lagged, with data continuing to come out mixed, showing sluggish conditions for the island continent. A positive read for Consumer Confidence and employment could give the RBA the right amount of push to begin considering raising interest rates sooner, with the RBA currently looking to stand pat for the rest of 2018.
The Aussie has struggled lately, with AUD/JPY closing lower for three consecutive weeks amid sotfer-than-expected economic growth within Australia and bouts of market-wide risk aversion sending traders piling into the Yen, the safe haven currency of choice as market participants pull large amounts of cash out of riskier assets, sending equities and commodities retreating in fear-induced selloffs. Markets recently woke up to the reality that rising inflation in key global economies will mean a rising interest rate environment as central banks begin to tighten their belts and prepare to start winding down their decade-long montary easing policies.
AUD/JPY Technicals
The Aussie continues to trade on the backfoot, falling for most of Tuesday's trading on risk-based Yen strength. Intraday swing support is priced in at 84.33 and 85.50 respectively, while long-term charts show AUD/JPY trading below the 200-day SMA and technical indicators treading even deeper into their bearish zones. A decisive break of the 84.40 level will see the pair ready to fall, unchallenged, to the nearest major support at 81.85.