Australia unexpected lost 5.1K jobs in August. The country down under was expected to gain nearly 10K jobs. This doesn’t look good.
However, the initial fall in the Aussie was quickly reversed.
The unemployment rate remained at 6.2% as expected. Full time employment actually dropped by 13.9K and part time employment was gained: 8.9K. So, also the components look unconvincing. Even the participation rate fell short, sliding to 64.9% instead of 65% last month.
AUD/USD dipped but remained above the clear range separator of 0.7280. Why?
First, the the Australian authorities pointed out to an ongoing uptrend in employment. The number of employed persons is still on the rise.
In addition, the Australian press brings up criticism about the method of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, including a quote that the last 6 months of results aren’t worth the paper they are written on.
In addition, Australia later reported strong vehicle sales: a rise of 5.5% after sliding 1.7% beforehand. While this isn’t a big market mover, the sentiment in markets is to sell the USD. In addition, consumer inflation expectations rose to 3.5% y/y from 3.2% beforehand.
On this background, it is easier to understand why the A$ remains strong above 0.73.
Resistance is at 0.7350, the high seen earlier, and 0.74 looms above. 0.7280 remains support, followed by 0.72.
More: AUD/USD sees downside potential;
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