Australian Dollar Mixed Despite Decent Employment Data

The Australian dollar was soft today despite decent domestic employment data. While the Aussie managed to rise a little against few rivals, the currency dropped against the majority of its counterparts.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the number of employed Australians increased by 50,000 in December from the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis. The actual value was in line with analysts’ forecasts. That was a good figure, though it showed a slowdown compared with November’s 90,000 increase. Gains were registered both in full-time and part-time employment, by 35,700 and 14,300 respectively. The unemployment rate fell from 6.8% to 6.6%, below the consensus forecast of 6.7%. The participation rate increased by 0.1 percentage point to 66.2% in seasonally adjusted terms.
Released separately, the Melbourne Institute Inflation Expectations fell to 3.4% in January from 3.5% in December.
The market sentiment remained generally positive due to hopes for coronavirus vaccines to quell the pandemic and fiscal stimulus in the United States to reignite growth in the world’s largest economy. It was supportive of commodity currencies, though they were heading to end Thursday’s session mixed, losing intraday gains against many rivals. The Aussie was not an exception. Some market analysts speculated that today’s poor performance was technical in nature, not fundamental. The Aussie was rising since the beginning of November, and it looks like the rally was overdone.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7757 as of 19:55 GMT today after opening at 0.7743 and rising to the daily high of 0.7782. EUR/AUD gained from 1.5622 to 1.5671. GBP/AUD rose from 1.7617 to 1.7686.
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Original from: www.earnforex.com