AUD/JPY steadies as Yen remains under pressure, Australian data ignored

The AUD/JPY pair was mostly flat on Thursday, while trading within a narrow range, with the Aussie Dollar shrugging off the latest retail sales data out of Australia.

Retail sales grew 0.2% month-over-month in August, preliminary data showed earlier on Thursday, which compared with market expectations of a 0.3% increase.

The modest growth rate indicated Australian consumers continued to restrain their spending amid elevated interest rates.

Meanwhile, Yen traders remained on intervention watch.

Japan’s Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Thursday that the country would not rule out any options to cope with excessive Forex volatility.

Suzuki also reiterated a warning against speculative moves on the Japanese currency, which has plunged to 11-month lows versus the US Dollar.

The Yen still remained in proximity to the psychological level of 150.00 per dollar, which is considered by markets as a red line for the Japanese monetary authorities that could lead to Forex intervention, as was the case a year ago.

“It’s desirable for currencies to move stably and excessive volatility is undesirable,” Japan’s Finance Minister told reporters.

“If excessive volatility arises we won’t rule out any options and respond appropriately. To achieve that end, we are carefully monitor moves with a sense of urgency.”

The Yen has also been affected by rising oil prices, which yesterday registered their highest settlement so far this year.

Yen traders will be also paying attention to an upcoming set of Japanese macro data, including unemployment, retail sales and industrial production figures for August.

Japan’s rate of unemployment probably eased to 2.6% last month, according to a consensus of analyst estimates, from 2.7% in July. The official report by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is due out at 23:30 GMT.

As of 8:02 GMT on Thursday AUD/JPY was inching up 0.01% to trade at 95.059.