Australian Dollar Rises On Strong Jobs Data

The Australian dollar strengthened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Thursday, after data showed that Australia's economy has added more jobs than expected in August.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the Australian economy added 54,200 jobs to 12,269,000 in August, beating forecasts for an addition of 20,000 jobs following the addition of 27,900 jobs in the previous month.

The unemployment rate in Australia held steady at a seasonally adjusted 5.6 percent in August. That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the July reading.

The participation rate ticked up to 65.3 percent, exceeding expectations for 65.1 percent, which would have been unchanged.

Full-time employment increased 40,100 to 8,392,300 and part-time employment increased 14,100 to 3,876,700. Unemployment decreased 1,100 to 727,500.

In other economic news, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that China's industrial production climbed 6 percent year-on-year in August, slower than the 6.4 percent increase seen in July.

Output growth was forecast to accelerate to 6.6 percent. The pace of expansion was also the weakest seen so far this year.

Similarly, retail sales growth eased to 10.1 percent in August from 10.4 percent in July. This was the slowest growth since January to February this year and below the expected rate of 10.5 percent.

During January to August, fixed asset investment increased 7.8 percent from previous year, after rising 8.3 percent in the first seven months of the year. The latest annual expansion was the slowest since 1999.

In the Asian trading, the Australian dollar rose to a 1-1/2-month high of 88.74 against the yen, nearly a 4-week high of 1.4813 against the euro and a 2-day high of 1.1054 against the NZ dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 88.23, 1.4882 and 1.1023, respectively. If the aussie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 89.00 against the yen, 1.46 against the euro and 1.11 against the kiwi.

Against the U.S. dollar, the aussie edged up to 0.8016 from yesterday's closing value of 0.7985. The aussie may test resistance near the 0.81 region.

Against the Canadian dollar, the aussie climbed to 0.9755 from an early 2-day low of 0.9706. The aussie is likely to find resistance around the 0.99 region.

Looking ahead, the Swiss National Bank is set to publish the outcome of its monetary policy meeting at 3:30 am ET. The bank is expected to hold the interest rate on sight deposits at -0.75 percent and the target range for the three-month Libor between -1.25 percent and -0.25 percent.

At 7:00 am ET, the Bank of England releases the outcome of its monetary policy meeting as well as minutes. Economists expect the bank to retain interest rates unchanged at 0.25 percent and asset purchase target at GBP 435 billion.

In the New York session, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended September 9, U.S. CPI data for August and Canada new housing price inde for July are slated for release.

At 11:30 am ET, Deutsche Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann is expected to speak about monetary policy after a crisis at Goethe University, in Frankfurt.

At 12:00 pm ET, European Central Bank Executive Board Member Yves Mersch will participate in closing session "Economic and Financial Priorities for relaunching the Eurozone and the EU" at Eurofi Financial Forum 2017 "What way forward for the EU27 and Eurozone?" in Tallinn.

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De Mar 2024 à Avr 2024