AUD/JPY struggles near 78.50 as RBA’s Lowe holds policy bias amid upbeat view for coal ban and housing

AUD/JPY trades near 78.50 during the early Asian session on Friday.
Mixed comments from the RBA Governor fail to provide any direction.
Catalyst affecting safe-haven demand could offer moves to the pair.

Anil Panchal FXStreet

AUD/JPY remains little changed around 78.50 during initial Asian market trading on Friday. The pair struggled to extend pullback from 78.30 as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor held the latest policy bias while remaining optimistic on house price falls and China’s coal import ban. With the testimony likely running for three-hours, many updates are still to flow together with a question and answer session that could give near-term direction to the pair. Also, catalysts for safe-havens could also play their role to determine immediate pair moves.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe appeared for testimony before the House of Representatives' Standing Committee on Economics, in Sydney, at 22:30 GMT. Lowe initially praised economic development but lowered down present year GDP forecast to 3%. He then communicated his disappointment for Inflation while giving equal probabilities to the central bank’s next policy moves. Additionally, Lowe said recent coal ban from China doesn’t have any dramatic impact on the domestic economy and the house buyers should discuss a good loan with the bank.

A major part of the Lowe’s recent comments tried sticking to the earlier view that no clear direction is preferable for the next move on interest rates. As a result, investors fret about lack of fresh details but are still waiting for some during these three hours.

On the other hand, the Japanese Yen (JPY) strengthened on Thursday as uncertainty over the US-China trade talks and Brexit continued pushing investors to safe-havens. China agreed to import more agriculture products from the US while leading politicians at the UK started doubting that voting on fresh Brexit proposal can happen during next week.

AUD/JPY Technical Analysis

Break of two-week long ascending support-line signals brighter chances of the pair’s decline to 78.10, 77.50 and 77.00 consecutive rest-points.

Alternatively, an upside clearance of 78.70 could help the quote aim for 79.20 and 79.90 numbers to the north.

Author

Anil Panchal

FXStreet

Anil Panchal has nearly 15 years of experience in tracking financial markets. With a keen interest in macroeconomics, Anil aptly tracks global news/updates and stays well-informed about the global financial moves and their implications.

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