The Aussie Dollar once again stole the spotlight in Asia as better than expected employment data fueled a huge move higher, pulling risk and gold with it. While the Australian unemployment rate was in line with the consensus of 5.8%, the employment data showed that 24,500 jobs were added as opposed to a forecast of a loss of 10,100 jobs. The data surpassed even the most optimistic hopes, pushing the Aussie dollar to fresh 15 month highs. AUD/USD exploded from 0.9310 to finally fizzle out near 0.9370 after the data, while AUD/JPY jumped 60 pips to 84.20 and AUD/NZD flew from 1.2550 to eventual highs in the 1.2630 neighborhood.
NZD/USD jumped to 0.7440 and landed back near starting points of 0.7400 as the elation wore down.
The positive data also helped fuel speculation that a RBA rate hike in December of 25 basis points is almost inevitable. The dollar was once again sold as traders bought into risk and commodities sending spot gold to new record highs of $1121.95. EUR/USD broke through the 1.5000 level once again, but was subsequently unable to maintain as the day came to a close.
GBP/USD remained down trodden today after yesterdays BoE comments by Governor Mervyn King. King commented that a weak pound would help in the economic recovery of the UK due to favorable conditions to exporters. Although it had a quick foray into the 1.6600 fields, the pound remained just over lows near 1.6575 heading into London.
USD/JPY was stagnant and stuck in a less than 30 pip range once again as traders look to try to decipher the play between the dollars demise and the moves attributed to risk. Yen crosses were stable as equities remained tepid and mixed for the day.
The big show later will be the US unemployment claims at 8:30am EST with an expected 512,000 new claims. This data should help set the tone for the remained of the day.
