Chines data dump misses expectations, AUD a touch softer

China’s April activity data has been released with a focus on the Retail Sales and Industrial Production data in the main.

Chinese data arrived as follows:

Chinese Surveyed Jobless Rate Apr: 5.1% (exp 5.2%; prev 5.3%).

Chinese Fixed Assets Ex-Rural YTD (YoY) Apr: 19.9% (exp 20.0%; prev 25.6%) - Property Investment YTD (YoY) Apr: 21.6% (exp 20.0%; prev 25.6%).

Chinese Retail Sales (YoY) Apr: 17.7% (exp 25.0%; prev 34.2%) - Retail Sales YTD (YoY) Apr: 29.6% (exp 31.9%; prev 33.9%).

Chinese Industrial Production (YoY) Apr: 9.8% (exp 10.0%; prev 14.1%) - Industrial Production YTD (YoY) Apr: 20.3% (exp 21.1%; prev 24.5%)

Analysts at Westpac explained, prior to the release, that the momentum will remain strong with capacity and income gaining at a robust pace.

AUD/USD update

Technically, the price is on the verge of a significant correction to test the 61.8% Fibonacci on the daily time frame:

About the Retails Sales report

The Retail Sales report released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China measures the total receipts of the retailed consumer goods. It reflects the total consumer goods that the various industries supply to the households and social groups through various channels. It is an important indicator to study the changes in the Chinese retail market and reflecting the degree of economic prosperity. In general, A high reading is seen as positive (or bullish) CNY, while a low reading is seen as negative (or bearish) for the CNY.