AUD/JPY drops below 79.00 as Australia enters "per capita" recession

• AUD/JPY fell below 79.00 a few minutes before press time and is currently trading at session lows near 78.90. 
• Australia GDP report released at 00:30 GMT showed the economy entered "per capita" recession in the third quarter. 

The AUD took hit after the data released at 00:30 GMT showed the Australian economy entered "per capita" recession. 

Australian economy expanded 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter, missing the estimate of a 0.3 percent growth. The annualized growth rates also came in below estimates.

Notably, the GDP report released today also showed the per capita GDP - which strips out the effect of population growth - contracted 0.2 percent, having dropped 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, in the previous quarters. 

It essentially means that Australia's economy has entered per capital recession for the first time since 2006. That will likely put pressure on the RBA to walk the talk - Governor Lowe put rate cuts back on the table in early February, however, the monetary policy statement released yesterday was neutral. 

As a result, AUD/JPY risks falling further, having dropped more than 30 pips to session lows near 78.90 in the last few minutes. 

Technical Levels