AUD/JPY aims to overstep 94.00 as Australian monthly CPI slips to 6.8%

The AUD/JPY pair is marching north to surpass the critical hurdle of 94.00 amid a first-time release of the Australian monthly inflation indicator. August's reading has remained lower at 6.8% vs. July's reading of 7%.

In order to provide a timelier indication of price pressures, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has introduced a monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) indicator that inculcates the same data used in quarterly CPI mechanics. Each month will include updated prices for between 62 and 73 percent of the weight of the quarterly CPI basket, as reported by ABS.

It is worth noting that the quarterly Australian inflation data was recorded at 6.1% for the second quarter. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is continuously working on taming the soaring price pressures. RBA Governor Philip Lowe has already accelerated its Official Cash Rate (OCR) to 2.35%.

On Wednesday, the aussie dollar rebounded sharply after the release of better-than-projected Aussie monthly Retail Sales data. The economic data landed at 0.6%, higher than the estimates of 0.4%, but lower than the prior release of 1.3%.

Meanwhile, the Japanese yen is losing its grip on the risk barometer as the impact of the Bank of Japan (BOJ)’s intervention in the currency markets is fading away. It seems that the BOJ is highly needed to restrict policy easing to safeguard yen from a further impulsive wave of depreciation. Also, an unscheduled bond-purchase program by the BOJ has weakened the yen bulls.