AUSSIE-YEN: Westpac notes that "USD/JPY's............>

AUSSIE-YEN: Westpac notes that "USD/JPY's correlation with global risk appetite

has been unreliable at times in recent weeks. But AUD/USD has tracked the broad

swings in the S&P 500 closely enough that AUD/JPY remains one of the most

reliable risk barometers on a multi-day/week timeframe. AUD/JPY fell steeply

from late Feb to mid-late Mar as US equities finally caught up with the Covid-19

nerves shown in other mkts since Jan. The pair's recovery since then aligns

quite well with the equity rebound to 1 month highs last week. Both the BoJ &

the RBA have loosened monpol notably in recent weeks, but clearly the RBA has

taken the bigger leap into the unknown by pursuing its first QE program,

following the BoJ's lead in adopting YCC. In terms of the Covid-19 battle,

Australia's containment is more advanced, offering the prospect of earlier

loosening of activity restrictions. However, tight limits on foreign arrivals to

Australia will keep services exports under great pressure & population growth

will slow sharply. Weak energy prices hurt AUD & benefit JPY, reinforcing risks

to AUD/JPY from the coming dismal economic data & earnings reports globally. We

see multi-week risks to Y64, with both AUD/USD & USD/JPY rallies to be fragile."