AUD Slips as Economy Sheds Jobs

AUD

The Aussie Dollar opens a little lower against majors with light trading over the past 24h, as well as relatively weak Aussie labour data and commodity performance. Aussie employment unexpectedly fell in March as the Unemployment Rate edged higher, reflecting restrictive monetary policy settings. The economy unexpectedly shed 6k roles in March, following the surprise increase of over 100k in Feb, while the Unemployment Rate ticked up to 3.8% from 3.7%. Even so, the Aussie labour market is holding up better than the RBA expected, with the recent figures likely to contribute to contribute to the central bank’s sense of patience on potential rate cuts. Commodities were mostly weak with Gold -0.3%, Silver -0.4%, SGX Iron Ore -1.8% and Copper +2.2%. Asian equities were bid with the Hang Seng +0.8% and the Nikkei +0.3%. The ASX closed +0.5% higher led by +1.0% gains in IT and Materials. A quiet few days ahead of Australia’s Flash Manufacturing & Services PMIs on Monday morning. We’ll also see China’s Loan Prime Rate decisions during Monday’s late morning.
 

USD

AUDUSD gained traction during the initial part of yesterday morning, reaching 0.6456 highs before falling off to this morning’s open at 0.6419. A calmer session saw the Nasdaq close -0.5%, the S&P 500 -0.3% and the Dow +0.1%. Overnight, US Unemployment Claims for the month printed on-expectations at 212k for the week, while the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index indicated stronger-than-expected economic health, with the index printing at 15.5 (exp. 1.5). Tonight, we’ll see some FOMC Members speaking in what will be a relatively quiet end-of-week for the US Dollar. We’ll see their Flash Manufacturing & Services PMIs on Tuesday.
 

EUR

AUDEUR traded sideways over the past 24h, with minimal data pieces seeing the pair open at 0.6033. The DAX and CAC gained +0.4% and +0.5% respectively. This evening, we’ll see German Producer Price Inflation. The next major Eurozone releases will be Flash Manufacturing and Services PMIs on Tuesday.
 

GBP

AUDGBP reached 0.5176 highs in yesterday’s session before gradually lowering to this morning’s open at 0.5158. The FTSE gained +0.4%. Relatively quiet trading for the Pound this week, with overall softening off the back of Bank of England Governor Bailey’s dovish remarks. He noted UK faces less inflation risk than the US at the moment. The only notably near-term release is the Retail Sales m/m this afternoon (exp. +0.3%, prev. 0.0%).
 

NZD

AUDNZD traced downward throughout the course of yesterday afternoon, having touched 1.0893 highs ahead of this morning’s open at 1.0877. We have no data for the Kiwis today and minimal releases set for next week.