Investing.com - The Australian dollar fell against its U.S. counterpart after surprisingly bad unemployment numbers hit the wire Thursday.
AUD/USD hit 1.0400 Thursday in Asian trading, down 0.33% and up from a session low of 1.0377 and off from a high of 1.0435.
The pair was likely to find support 1.0320, Tuesday's low, and resistance at 1.0450, Tuesday's high.
The Australian government reported the economy shed 29,300 jobs in December, much worse than forecasts for a gain of 10,000 jobs.
The news sent the Australian dollar plummeting as demand for most other major currencies it trades against spiking.
Traders said the weak jobs data, coupled with expectations that inflation data could be soft as well, fueled predictions that the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut interest rates at its next monetary policy meeting.
"The knee-jerk reaction was to take the Aussie dollar lower," said Mike Jones, a currency strategist at Bank of New Zealand in Wellington, according to Bloomberg.
"We’ll probably need to see a weakish looking CPI number next week to really make the case for a cut from the RBA."
Meanwhile, the Aussie dollar was down against its New Zealand counterpart and down against the yen, with AUD/NZD dipping 0.12% to trade at 1.2954 and AUD/JPY falling 0.46% to 79.81.
Later Thursday, Australia will release its Import Price Index, which measures the change in the price of imported goods and services purchased domestically.
Investors following the U.S. dollar will be awaiting U.S. inflation data, initial jobless claims as well as numbers on housing starts and building permits later Thursday, while the Federal Reserve Philadelphia Manufacturing Index will come out as well.
The European Central Bank will release a report on current account data followed by its monthly bulletin.
Japan will release its All Industries Activity Index later Thursday as well.
AUD/USD hit 1.0400 Thursday in Asian trading, down 0.33% and up from a session low of 1.0377 and off from a high of 1.0435.
The pair was likely to find support 1.0320, Tuesday's low, and resistance at 1.0450, Tuesday's high.
The Australian government reported the economy shed 29,300 jobs in December, much worse than forecasts for a gain of 10,000 jobs.
The news sent the Australian dollar plummeting as demand for most other major currencies it trades against spiking.
Traders said the weak jobs data, coupled with expectations that inflation data could be soft as well, fueled predictions that the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut interest rates at its next monetary policy meeting.
"The knee-jerk reaction was to take the Aussie dollar lower," said Mike Jones, a currency strategist at Bank of New Zealand in Wellington, according to Bloomberg.
"We’ll probably need to see a weakish looking CPI number next week to really make the case for a cut from the RBA."
Meanwhile, the Aussie dollar was down against its New Zealand counterpart and down against the yen, with AUD/NZD dipping 0.12% to trade at 1.2954 and AUD/JPY falling 0.46% to 79.81.
Later Thursday, Australia will release its Import Price Index, which measures the change in the price of imported goods and services purchased domestically.
Investors following the U.S. dollar will be awaiting U.S. inflation data, initial jobless claims as well as numbers on housing starts and building permits later Thursday, while the Federal Reserve Philadelphia Manufacturing Index will come out as well.
The European Central Bank will release a report on current account data followed by its monthly bulletin.
Japan will release its All Industries Activity Index later Thursday as well.