AUD/JPY aims to re-test 92.00 as focus shifts to China's Inflation

• AUD/JPY is expected to re-test 92.00 but is inside the woods following cues from AUD/USD.
• Investors are awaiting China’s inflation data for fresh impetus.
• It seems that few days of sunlight left for the ultra-loose monetary policy approach in Japan.

The AUD/JPY pair is struggling to come out of the woods as investors are awaiting the release of China’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for fresh impetus. The risk barometer has shifted sideways around 91.50, following footprints of AUD/USD ahead of the release of the United States inflation data.

According to the estimates, annual CPI (Dec) is set to improve to 1.8% from the former release of 1.6%. While the monthly figure may contract by 0.1% against the prior release of -0.2%. Also, the Producer Price Index (PPI) could contract by 0.1%. The Chinese economy is operating at lower inflation levels after remaining locked for a lengthy period due to the Covid-19 epidemic. This might force the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to announce some policy-easing measures to spurt the level of economic activities.

On Wednesday, the cross turned sideways after a bullish action supported by the release of the higher-than-projected Australian inflation and upbeat Retail Sales data. The monthly price index (Nov) in the Australian economy landed at 7.4% vs. the consensus of 7.3% and the former release of 6.9%. Apart from that, monthly Retail Sales (Nov) jumped to 1.4% against the projections of 0.6%.

Stronger-than-anticipated inflation and retail demand by households are going to compel the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to continue hiking interest rates further to tame soaring inflation. Currently, the Official Cash Rate (OCR) of the RBA is at 3.10%.

On the Tokyo front, Michio Saito, Director-General of the Financial Bureau at Japan’s Ministry of Finance (MoF), said in a statement early Wednesday, “interest rates remain low but the current situation won't last indefinitely.” Japanese administration and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) are looking to review their decade-long ultra-loose monetary policy to conclude deflation and an easy policy approach.