Investing.com - The Australian dollar slipped against its U.S. counterpart during Thursday’s Asian session following some concerning jobs data from down under.
In Asian trading Thursday, AUD/USD lost 0.56% to 0.9474. The pair was likely to find support at 0.9436, the low of November 3 and resistance at 0.9623, the high of October 28.
Earlier Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said the country’s unemployment remained at 5.7% last month, defying expectations for a rise to 5.8%. The number of people employed rose 11,639, well above the estimate of 7,500.
However, the Aussie tumbled because Australia lost nearly 28,000 full-time jobs. The number of part-time jobs rose by nearly 29,000.
The Australian jobs data arrived a day after data showed that Australia's trade deficit narrowed more than expected in September, coming in at AUD0.28 billion from a deficit of AUD0.68 billion the previous month. Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to AUD0.45 billion in September.
The Statistics Bureau added its seasonally adjusted workforce participation rate, or the proportion of working-age people in a job or actively seeking work, fell to 64.8% in October from 64.9% in September and against a consensus expectation of 64.9%, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Earlier this week, the Reserve Bank of Australia kept interest rates at a record low of 2.5%, but RBA is still warning of a strong Aussie and is desperate to engineer growth in other areas of the economy beyond mining. That effort has yet to bear much fruit.
Elsewhere, AUD/JPY lost 0.63% to 93.41 while AUD/NZD fell 0.29% to 1.1336.
In Asian trading Thursday, AUD/USD lost 0.56% to 0.9474. The pair was likely to find support at 0.9436, the low of November 3 and resistance at 0.9623, the high of October 28.
Earlier Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said the country’s unemployment remained at 5.7% last month, defying expectations for a rise to 5.8%. The number of people employed rose 11,639, well above the estimate of 7,500.
However, the Aussie tumbled because Australia lost nearly 28,000 full-time jobs. The number of part-time jobs rose by nearly 29,000.
The Australian jobs data arrived a day after data showed that Australia's trade deficit narrowed more than expected in September, coming in at AUD0.28 billion from a deficit of AUD0.68 billion the previous month. Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to AUD0.45 billion in September.
The Statistics Bureau added its seasonally adjusted workforce participation rate, or the proportion of working-age people in a job or actively seeking work, fell to 64.8% in October from 64.9% in September and against a consensus expectation of 64.9%, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Earlier this week, the Reserve Bank of Australia kept interest rates at a record low of 2.5%, but RBA is still warning of a strong Aussie and is desperate to engineer growth in other areas of the economy beyond mining. That effort has yet to bear much fruit.
Elsewhere, AUD/JPY lost 0.63% to 93.41 while AUD/NZD fell 0.29% to 1.1336.