Thursday, was a very ‘busy’ day for the currency market filled with economic data and major central bank policy meetings.
Among the market focuses in today’s Asian session were the publication of New Zealand economic data and the Australian jobs report which were the drivers of both currencies.
The Aussie dollar traded slightly higher following encouraging employment data. The Australian economy added 366,100 jobs in November, pushing the disruption rate down significantly to 4.6% from 5.2%.
This reading is seen as very positive as the Australian Central Bank (RBA) had previously predicted that the unemployment rate would not reach 4.5% until the middle of next year.
Australian 3 -year bond yields rose to a one -week high, supported by market expectations that the RBA will begin reducing or completely ending its bond -buying program in February 2022.
Meanwhile, the kiwi dollar traded slightly gloomy following a contraction recorded in New Zealand’s economic growth in the third quarter after being impacted by closures implemented to curb the spread of the Delta variant.
However, the contraction was better than expected with a decline of 3.4% compared to the expected decline of 4.1%. Economic growth slowed significantly from a revised 2.4% in the previous quarter.
Overall, both currencies are seen still retaining some of the gains gained from the depreciation of the US dollar following the outcome of the FOMC policy meeting.
