- AUD picked up a bid on the above-forecast jobs report.
- The economy added significantly higher jobs than expected.
- Ful-time jobs, however, declined and could keep gains under check.
The bid tone around the AUD strengthened, pushing the AUD/USD pair higher by 38 pips after the Australian jobs data bettered estimates by a big margin.
The Australian economy added 28.9K jobs in December. Employment was forecasted to have risen by 15k in December, easing from the prior month’s impressive gain of
39.9k.
The jobless rate dipped to 5.1% in December from the preceding month's 5.2%. It was forecasted to have stayed unchanged at 5.2%.
AUD/USD pair rose from 0.6838 to 0.6876 in a knee-jerk reaction to above-forecast headline numbers.
The economic climate had darkened towards the year-end, as the country battled to bring the fires under control and so the markets were expecting a weak number. The headline numbers, however, have bettered estimates, offering a positive surprise. As a result, the AUD could remain better bid during the day ahead.
That said, big gains may remain elusive as the Full-Time jobs fell by 0.3K, taking the shine off the big beat on the headline figure.
The investors, therefore, are unlikely to scale back expectations for a Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) rate cut on 4 February. As of Wednesday, expectations for a 25 basis point cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on 4 February sat at 56%.
Technical levels
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