The Australian dollar rose today, gaining on most major currencies, with the exception of the euro. While no macroeconomic data was released in Australia today, several reports came out yesterday, including the extremely positive employment report.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the seasonally adjusted number of employed persons in Australia increased by 21,600 in December from the previous month. Experts had predicted a smaller figure of 17,300. Furthermore, the November increase got a positive revision from 37,000 to 39,000. And on top of all that, the unemployment fell unexpectedly from 5.1% to 5.0%. Spoiling the positive data somewhat was the fact that the December employment increase was a result of gains in part-time employment, while full-time employment fell slightly.
The Commonwealth Bank Flash Services PMI fell to 51.0 in January from 52.7 in December. At the same time, the Commonwealth Bank Flash Manufacturing PMI rose to 54.3 from 54.0.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7103 as of 10:46 GMT today after opening at 0.7094 and falling to the daily low of 0.7076. AUD/JPY gained from 77.75 to 78.01. Meanwhile, EUR/AUD advanced from 1.5928 to 1.5956, touching the high of 1.5982 intraday.
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