AUD/JPY has a rough start, sinking towards 81.50 on China data miss

• The Aussie is taking a bit of a beating against its peers for Friday, shedding most of the week’s gains in the Pacific session.
• China’s Retail Sales figures beat expectations, as did Japan’s data early in the day, leaving the AUD in the dust.

The AUD/JPY pairing sees Friday’s trading getting underway on a notably bearish bent, dropping from the 82.00 handle into 81.50 in risk-off Asian markets for the early session.

The Aussie was helped further lower by Chinese macro figures which showed China’s annualized Retail Sales into November slow to 8.1% versus the expected 8.8%, and slowing domestic demand in China bodes poorly for the Aussie, helping to drive the pair further lower against the safe-haven Japanese Yen.

Japanese data released at the Friday rollover showed Japan’s Tankan Manufacturing series broadly perform better than expected, helping the Yen to find its footing; the fourth quarter’s Tankan Non-Manufacturing Index climbed to 24 (forecast 21, previous 22) while Japan Tankan Large All-Industry Capex came in at 14.3% (forecast 12.7%, last 13.4%), and the surprisingly robust figures from Japan are helping to further skewer the AUD/JPY pairing.

AUD/JPY Technical Levels