Key points:
- The AUDUSD currency pair edged higher amid mixed labour market data.
- The Aussie rallied against the dollar after the mixed US macro data release.
- The currency pair was headed higher at the time of publishing.
The AUDUSD currency pair was trading up on the day as the Australian dollar gained ground against its US peer following the release of mixed macro data from Australia earlier today. The pair struggled to rally higher after the Australian unemployment change data came in at 900 jobs, missing analysts’ expectations of 25,000 new jobs.
However, the country’s unemployment rate met the consensus estimate of 3.5%, as did the labour force participation rate, which came in at 66.6%, as expected. In addition, the crucial National Australia Bank’s (NAB) quarterly Business Confidence data rose to 9, beating analysts’ expectations of 5 and the previous figure of 7, boosting the Aussie.
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The AUDUSD currency pair kept rising during the American session after the release of the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index, which came in at -8.7 versus the expected -5.0. However, the figure was much lower than the previous figure of -9.9.
The upbeat US jobless claims data, recorded at 214,000 versus the consensus estimate of 229,000 claims, could not help the dollar, which continued to weaken against the Australian dollar.
The Aussie further benefitted from the Peoples Bank of China’s (PBOC) decision to leave its one-year loan prime rate unchanged at 3.65%, while the five-year loan prime rate was unchanged at 4.30%.
The PBOC did not want to offer further monetary stimulus to widen the gap between it and other leading central banks still hiking interest rates to fight record-high inflation. Many analysts still expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to hike interest rates by 25 basis points at its next meeting.
The dollar’s overall weakness also drove the currency pair’s rally. The risk-on market sentiment reduced the demand for the dollar as a safe-haven asset, usually preferred when investors are risk-averse.
*This is not investment advice.
AUDUSD price chart.
The AUDUSD currency pair was trading up 78 pips (1.24%) at the time of writing as the Aussie gained against the dollar.