AUD/JPY: Retreats from fresh high near 84.30 post-Australia job data

• AUD/JPY is melting its previous gains in the Asian session.
• Australian strong job data proves to be unimpressive for the cross.
• Risk aversion favors safe-haven asset yen.

After posting strong gains on Wednesday, the AUD/JPY is struggling to hold on to the upside in the Asian session.  

The pair peaked at 84.30 after the release of much anticipated Australian job data, albeit gains fizzled out sooner than expected, as the aussie touched the intraday low at 84.06

At the time of writing, AUD/JPY is trading at 84.11, up 0.03% on the day.

Australia’s unemployment rate fell to 5.6% in March from 5.8% and above the market consensus at 5.7%. The lowest jobless rate since March 2020, as to some extent the economy recovered from the COVID-19. The employment grew by 70.7K, beating the market expectations of 35k. However, the cross remains unfazed by the upbeat data, as a stronger report appears to be already discounted by the market.

On the other hand, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda expressed his concerns on the prospect of a faster economic recovery any time soon, in the wake of the renewed curbs on economic activity to deal with the resurgence in COVID-19 infections.  

On Wednesday Japan recorded more than 4,000 new highly contagious variant corona cases. This, in turn, added to the safe-haven appeal of the Japanese yen. The risk-aversion among investors will likely exert downside pressure on the cross.

AUD/JPY technical levels