AUD/USD steadies near 0.6300 ahead of US data

• Unemployment Rate in Australia ticked up to 5.2% in March.
• US Dollar Index consolidates daily gains below 100.
• Markets expect weekly Jobless Claims in US to come in at 5.1 million.

The AUD/USD pair dropped to a fresh weekly low of 0.6265 during the Asian session as the upbeat labour market data from Australia failed to help the AUD. With the market action turning subdued ahead of the key macroeconomic data releases from the US, the pair retraced a portion of its daily fall and was last seen trading near 0.6300, where it was still down 0.3% on the day.

AUD struggles to capitalize on jobs figures

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that the Unemployment Rate in Australia ticked up to 5.2% in March from 5.1%. Although this reading came in better than the market expectation of 5.5%, it failed to provide a boost to the AUD as it was not fully reflecting the impact of the coronavirus-related lockdowns. Further details of the data revealed that Fulltime Employment declined by 0.4K and Participation remained unchanged at 66%.

Commenting on the data, “the ABS reported ‘some small early impact’ from COVID-19 but noted that any impact from the major COVID-19 related actions will be evident in the April data,” ANZ analysts pointed out. “This expectation is supported by Roy Morgan research, with its measure of the unemployment rate more than doubling between early and late March.”

In the early trading hours of the American session, the weekly Initial Jobless Claims data, which is expected to come in at 5.1 million, will be watched closely by the market participants. Philly Fed’s Manufacturing Survey will be featured in the US economic docket as well. In the meantime, the US Dollar Index is up 0.27% on the day at 99.85.

During the Asian session on Friday, Industrial Production and first-quarter GDP data from China could ramp up the market volatility.

Technical levels to watch for