AUD/JPY stuck near 78.00 as risk sentiment continues to swing

• The Aussie is struggling to gather momentum as investors turn away from the Antipodean.
• Holiday-thinned markets see investors with one foot in safe havens.

AUD/JPY is trading back into the 78.00 handle for early Friday trading as the pair cycles the familiar level, dipping into support from  the 77.50 region throughout the Christmas holiday trading schedule, and bull runs getting capped in the 78.50-78.80 zone as the Aussie continues to play second fiddle against the broader fx market.

Japan’s Tokyo CPI for December slips to 0.3%, unemployment ticks higher

Buying interest in the AUD remains at rock-bottom levels, leaving Aussie-based pairs to trade at the whim of broader market sentiment, and Friday is set to see risk appetite take an unsteady step backwards in the Pacific session following Japan’s largely-disappointing data dump to kick off the final trading day of the week. Japanese Tokyo CPI came in at just 0.3%, broadly missing the mark and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) is largely holding rapidly-declining oil prices to blame, though with Industrial Production and Retail Sales also contracting for November, Japan’s data woes remain closely tied to the US-China trade war as the domestic Chinese economy slows down, dragging the rest of the Pacific-Asia theater with it.

AUD/JPY Technical Levels