Australian Dollar Rises On Upbeat Jobs Data

(RTTNews) - The Australian dollar strengthened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Thursday, following the release of the nation's stronger-than-expected jobs report in June.

Data from Australia Bureau of Statistics showed that the unemployment rate of Australia remained unchanged at 3.5 percent, lesser than economist's consensus for a rise in unemployment to 3.6 percent.

The report also showed that the economy added 32.6K jobs in June which was more than the 15K expected by markets, although less than previous month's revised addition of 76.6K.

The strong jobs data added expectations of further hikes in RBA interest rates.

Meanwhile, traders remain cautiously optimistic because of an improving outlook for interest rates. Though the U.S. Fed is still widely expected to raise rates by another quarter point next week, traders are hopeful it is nearing the end of its interest rate hikes.

The CME FedWatch tool currently shows a 99.8% probability for a rate hike of 25 basis points in the review due on July 26. A 14% probability is however seen for another rate hike in September.

In the Asian trading today, the Australian dollar rose to a 6-day high of 95.24 against the yen and a 2-day high of 0.8986 against the Canadian dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 94.51 and 0.8912, respectively. If the aussie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 98.00 against the yen and 0.91 against the loonie.

Against the U.S. dollar and the euro, the aussie advanced to 3-day highs of 0.6839 and 1.6411 from Wednesday's closing quotes of 0.6771 and 1.6542, respectively. On the upside, 0.70 against the greenback and 1.60 against the euro are seen as the next resistance levels for the aussie.

The aussies edged up to 1.0853 against the NZ dollar, from yesterday's closing value of 1.0807. The aussie may test resistance near the 1.10 region.

Looking ahead, U.S. weekly jobless claims, Eurozone flash consumer confidence for July and U.S. existing home sales data for June are due to be released in the New York session.