The Australian dollar jumped today as employment in Australia demonstrated surprisingly huge growth that was about seven times above forecasts, causing speculation that the nation’s central bank will refrain from an interest rate cut.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the seasonally adjusted number of employed persons rose by 44,000 in March from February. That’s compared to the much smaller figure of 6,400 predicted by analysts. Australian employment decreased by 15,400 jobs in February. The unemployment rate also provided a pleasant surprise, staying at 5.2 percent, while an increase to 5.3 percent was expected.
The encouraging employment data caused economists speculate that the Reserve Bank of Australia may refrain from cutting interest rates as the nation’s economy looks robust enough and doesn’t need stimulus. On the other hand, the economic slowdown in other parts of the world may still outweigh positive domestic fundamentals. Analysts await for the minutes of the RBA meeting that may give hints about the bank’s intentions regarding the monetary policy.
AUD/USD jumped from 1.0298 to 1.0434 and AUD/JPY climbed from 83.26 to 84.39 as of 23:42 GMT today.EUR/AUD slumped from 1.2724 to 1.2635, reaching 1.2609 intraday — the lowest price since March 21.
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