AUD/JPY knocked back slightly by 2.2% decline in Australian Home Loans

• Aussie hesitates on another Australian data miss, but the impact remains minimal.
• Australia Home Loans: -2.2%, forecast -1.9%, previous -0.2%.

The AUD/JPY is back slightly into 82.35, but still sticking close to yesterday's highs as Australian Home Loan figures disappoint.

Australian Home Loans printed at -2.2%, a miss from the expected -1.9% and an even further contraction from the previous reading of -0.2% than markets were expecting. 

Aussie Investment Lending for Homes also declined heavily, contracting -9.0% compared to the previous period's -0.5%.

Declining economic indicators have become the norm for Australia, and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is widely expected to stand pat on any rate hikes well into 2019.

AUD/JPY levels to watch

Despite a still-bearish long-term technical outlook, the pair has managed to stage a brief recovery, and Wednesday's correction prices in a near low for the pair at 81.13, while a bullish continuation will quickly run into resistance at the 50.0 Fibo level near 82.50 and the 50-day EMA at 82.80, while a bearish continuation will have to contend with April's low near 80.80 to get the long-term bearish trend restarted.