AUD/JPY remains below Thursday’s high despite uptick in China’s Industrial Production

1. The AUD/JPY pair is struggling to pick up a bid despite the solid rebound in China’s factory activity.  
2. China’s GDP growth slowed to the lowest since 1992 in the third quarter.  
3. The pair may drop below 74.00 if equities turn risk-averse due to the dismal China GDP.  

AUD/JPY is struggling to gather upside traction and remains well below Thursday’s high of 74.40 despite the stronger-than-expected rebound in China’s factory activity.

The Industrial Production rose at an annualized rate of 5.8%, beating the forecasted rebound to 5% from August’s print of 4.4% by a big margin.

Even so the AUD, a proxy for China and a Commodity Dollar, is not finding takers. Notably, AUD/JPY has pulled back from 74.30 to 74.15. The AUD’s failure to cheer the Industrial Production could be associated with China’s dismal third-quarter growth rate released at 02:00 GMT.

The gross domestic product (GDP) for the July-September period came in at 6% – the worst quarterly reading since 1992 – missing the forecasted rate of 6.1% and down from the preceding quarter’s 6.2% print.

Further, Mao Shengyong, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, said the country is facing mounting risks and challenges both at home and abroad, possibly keeping traders from buying the AUD on upbeat factory data.

Looking forward, the AUD/JPY pair may face increasing selling pressure if the global equities turn risk-averse in response to the dismal China GDP, boosting demand for the anti-risk Japanese Yen. As of writing, the pair is trading largely unchanged on the day at 74.11.

Technical levels