AUD/JPY rises 30-pips to probe 68.00 on upbeat Australia unemployment rate

• AUD/JPY defies the early-Asian downside following the Aussie jobs report for March.
• Traders remain risk-averse amid the coronavirus crisis.
• IMF cited fears of no growth in Asia for the first time in 60 years.

AUD/JPY reacts positively, with an uptick to 67.93 from 67.70, to Australia’s March month employment data published on early Thursday.

Australia’s March month jobs report suggests that the headline Unemployment Rate declined less than 5.5% expected to 5.2% whereas Employment Change also beats -40.0K forecasts with +5.96K mark. The reason could be the period for the survey that was before the lockdowns in Australia, as suggested by Westpac.

Read More: Breaking: Aussie jobs data better than expected, but the caveat is …

Earlier during the day, Australia’s Consumer Inflation Expectations for April grew beyond 4.0% previous readouts to 4.6%.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to take a toll on the market’s risk-tone, which in turn weighs on the risk barometers like the AUD/JPY pair. The latest details suggest that the US death toll due to the virus marked the single-day record increase of 2,371 to 30,817.

Also exerting downside pressure on the market’s trading sentiment could be the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) comments that Asia’s economic growth in 2020 likely to grind to halt for the first time in 60 years.

As portraying the risk-off, the US stock futures and Japan’s NIKKEI remain on the back foot but the US 10-year Treasury yields await fresh clues after dropping to 0.64% the previous day.

Moving on, a light economic calendar in Asia will keep the pair traders searching the pandemic updates for fresh impetus.

Technical analysis

The pair’s U-turn from 50-day SMA, currently at 69.05, coupled with a sustained break of the monthly support line, keep sellers directed towards a 21-day SMA level around 66.60.