Forex - Aussie dollar gains despite weak jobs data, yen down

Investing.com - The Australian dollar gained after jobs data on Thursday despite it coming in worse than expected as revisions to the methodology gave the market a more accurate picture.

AUD/USD traded at 0.8849, up 0.08%, after the data. USD/JPY changed hands at 108.13, up 0.06% on solid machinery orders and remarks by the central bank governor.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the unemployment rate stood at 6.1% in September with the number of employed people falling by 29,700 and a participation rate of 64.5%.

Revised estimates had forecast for number of employed changing to a gain of 20,000 from a drop of 30,000 based on original forecast, the unemployment rate holding at 6.1% and the participation rate falling to 64.8% from 65.2%.

The data were worse than expected but likely reflects a more accurate state of the labor market. It is unlikely to impact on the Reserve Bank
of Australia's policy thinking because the central bank has already noted that labor market data have been unusually volatile of late.

Still in Sydney, Reserve Bank of Australia Stability Head Luci Ellis is due to speak at a Capital Market Dysfunctionality conference at 1255 (0155 GMT).

In Japan, August machinery orders rose 4.7% on month, well above a forecast a gain of 0.9% on month, and marking the third straight rise.

Three weeks before the Bank of Japan board updates its growth and inflation forecasts, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda late Wednesday repeated his upbeat view that the pace of price rises will pick up.

In his speech to the Economic Club of New York, Kuroda also repeated his mantra that the BOJ will continue its aggressive easing until 2% inflation is well anchored.

"Trend inflation rates have continued to increase steadily," Kuroda said. "The fact that the inflation rate has not declined too much but remained resilient despite the dissipating base effect suggests that the improvement in the output gap and the rise in inflation expectations have been working as trend inflationary pressure."

Later in the day, the ESP Forecast Survey of economists on GDP, CPI and Bank of Japan policy is due at 1500 (0600 GMT).

Overnight, the dollar, which has risen in the last 12 weeks, trimmed gains from earlier on Wednesday.

The Federal Reserve's debate on its interest rate guidance heated up last month, with several officials showing concern about misleading investors and pushing for a more data-dependent approach, according to minutes from its last policy meeting.

But as the Fed grapples with how to communicate its view on hiking rates, the minutes also show concern about the rising dollar, slowing inflation, and economic turmoil in Europe and Asia, factors that support the U.S. central bank's current of keeping policy accommodation in place for the near future.

"The concern was raised that the reference to 'considerable time' in the current forward guidance could be misunderstood as a commitment rather than as data dependent," said the minutes of the Fed's Sept. 16-17 meeting, which were released on Wednesday.