Australian Dollar Falls Amid Risk-off Mood

(RTTNews) - The Australian dollar weakened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Friday, as traders further scaled down their expectations for another U.S. Fed interest rate cut in December after the long-delayed U.S. jobs report for September showed an unexpected uptick in unemployment rate, with job growth far exceeded economist estimates. Concerns about an AI investment bubble and high valuations in the markets also remain.

While CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicates the chances of a rate cut next month have risen to 39.8 percent from 30.1 percent on Wednesday, that figure is down sharply from 98.8 percent a month ago.

In economic news, data from S&P Global showed that the services sector in Australia continued to expand in November, and at a faster pace, with a services PMI score of 52.7. That's up from 52.5 and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The survey also showed that the manufacturing PMI improved to 51.6 from 49.7 in October, while the composite index went up to 52.6 from 52.1 a month earlier.

According to minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia or RBA November meeting, if economic data keeps improving, the central bank might hold rates steady for a long time.

In the Asian trading today, the Australian dollar fell to a 3-day low of 1.7916 against the euro and a 2-day low of 101.24 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.7902 and 101.42, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.80 against the euro and 99.00 against the yen.

Against the U.S., the Canada and the New Zealand dollars, the aussie edged down to 0.6441, 0.9076 and 1.1513 from recent highs of 0.6458, 0.9097 and 1.1545, respectively. The aussie may test support around 0.62 against the greenback, 0.89 against the loonie and 1.13 against the kiwi.

Looking ahead, PMI reports from various European economies and U.K. for November are due to be released in the European session.

In the New York session, Canada retail sales data for September, new housing price index for October, U.S. PMI data for October, U.S. University of Michigan's consumer sentiment data for November and U.S. Baker Hughes oil rig count data are set to be released.