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7 Aug 2014
Aussie tumbles as Aus jobless rate hits 12-yr high
FXStreet (Bali) - The Australian Dollar was battered across the board after a very poor Australian jobs report, with the rest of G10 currencies offering little moves.
After testing 0.9370s in late US session, the AUD/USD consolidated around 0.9340-50 until the Australian employment figures, which came worst-than-expected. While the employment change was almost unchanged (-.3k), with full time jobs coming at 14,500, what led to the AUD sell-off was an eye-catcher 6.4% unemployment rate (12-year high) vs 6% expected. After the number, the Aussie was a one way street south, hitting its lowest for the session at 0.9280.
It is worth noting that one of the factor affecting such poor jobless rate reading may have to do with a variation in the method of calculating unemployment by the Australian Bureau of Statistics - ABS -, warning that the new methodology may slightly distort labour force classified as unemployed.
In other fundamental news, the Australian AIG performance of construction index for July improved to 52.6 vs 51.8 last. In New Zealand, the QV house prices index for July was +7.6% y/y vs 8% last. In Japan, Japan's JP foreign reserves stood at $1276B (July) vs previous $1283.9B, with Japanese Foreign investment in Japan stocks coming at ¥94.9B (August 1) vs previous ¥204.5B, while Japan's foreign bond investment climbed from previous ¥-302B to ¥897.4B in August 1.
After testing 0.9370s in late US session, the AUD/USD consolidated around 0.9340-50 until the Australian employment figures, which came worst-than-expected. While the employment change was almost unchanged (-.3k), with full time jobs coming at 14,500, what led to the AUD sell-off was an eye-catcher 6.4% unemployment rate (12-year high) vs 6% expected. After the number, the Aussie was a one way street south, hitting its lowest for the session at 0.9280.
It is worth noting that one of the factor affecting such poor jobless rate reading may have to do with a variation in the method of calculating unemployment by the Australian Bureau of Statistics - ABS -, warning that the new methodology may slightly distort labour force classified as unemployed.
In other fundamental news, the Australian AIG performance of construction index for July improved to 52.6 vs 51.8 last. In New Zealand, the QV house prices index for July was +7.6% y/y vs 8% last. In Japan, Japan's JP foreign reserves stood at $1276B (July) vs previous $1283.9B, with Japanese Foreign investment in Japan stocks coming at ¥94.9B (August 1) vs previous ¥204.5B, while Japan's foreign bond investment climbed from previous ¥-302B to ¥897.4B in August 1.