Australian Dollar Firms After Strong Employment Data
July 18 2018 - 11:16PM
RTTF2
The Australian dollar strengthened against its major rivals in
the Asian session on Thursday, as the economy added more jobs than
forecast in June.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the
Australian economy added 50,900 jobs last month - shattering
expectations for an increase of 16,500 following the addition of
12,000 in May.
The unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally
adjusted 5.4 percent in June.
That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the
previous month.
Quarterly survey data from the National Australia Bank showed
that Australia's business confidence weakened marginally in the
three months ended June, but remained a little above average.
The business confidence index dropped to 7 in the second quarter
from 8 in the previous quarter.
Asian stock markets were mostly higher, following the mostly
positive cues from Wall Street overnight amid upbeat corporate
earnings results and as U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
reinforced his view of a strong outlook for the U.S. economy on his
second day of testimony.
Crude oil prices edged higher in Asian trades after rising
overnight. The aussie climbed to a 2-day high of 1.0945 against the
kiwi and a 9-day high of 0.9796 against the loonie, from its early
lows of 1.0879 and 0.9737, respectively. If the aussie continues
its rise, 1.11 and 0.99 are possibly seen as its next resistance
levels against the kiwi and the loonie, respectively.
The aussie advanced to near a 4-week high of 1.5657 against the
euro and a 3-day high of 0.7441 against the greenback, off its
early lows of 1.5747 and 0.7394, respectively. The aussie is likely
to find resistance around 1.54 against the euro and 0.76 against
the greenback.
The aussie strengthened to more than a 5-week high of 83.92
against the yen, reversing from its early low of 83.40. The next
possible resistance for the aussie is seen around the 85.00
level.
Looking ahead, U.K. retail sales for June are due in the
European session.
In the New York session, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week
ended July 14 and leading index for June are scheduled for
release.
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