Aussie Dollar Rises on Strong Jobs Data; Euro Inches Up Ahead of PMI Data

Thursday,   18-Apr-2019   11:15 AM (IST)

The Australian dollar rose on Thursday in Asia on stronger-than-expected jobs data for March. The Euro also inched up ahead of the release of Purchasing Managers Indexes in Europe later in the day for the next indication of strength for the European economy. The Australian economy added 25,700 new jobs in March, compared to an estimate of 12,000. The March figure was also well above the February number at 4,600. The unemployment rate was 5.0%, in line with expectation and up slightly from the previously reported 4.9%. The AUD/USD pair traded 0.2% higher to 0.7187 after the release of the data. Meanwhile, the USD/CNY pair was unchanged at 6.6866. On Wednesday, China’s statistics office had said gross domestic product grew 6.4% in the first quarter from a year earlier, a touch above the 6.3% expected. Industrial output and retail sales also outperformed. The U.S. dollar index that tracks the greenback agains a basket of other currencies was unchanged at 96.685. The USD/JPY pair was down 0.1% to 111.93. The GBP/USD pair was near flat 1.3039. Trading is expected to be thin for the rest of the week, as U.S. markets and some Asian stock exchanges will be closed on Friday for the Easter holiday.