After a one month pause, Australia returned to posting excellent job figures, with the unemployment rate dropping to 5.1%. The reaction built up slowly, but now, the previous resistance line far behind, and the pair is at a 4 month high. Update on this strong currency.
Australia enjoyed many months of improving job figures. Last month, job data was mixed, with a jump in the unemployment rate. But now, the Aussie is back to normal – a strong normal:
Employment change, similar to the American Non-Farm Payrolls, rose by 30,900. This gain in jobs was slightly better than 27,200 that was predicted. The bigger surprise came from the unemployment rate, that dropped from 5.3% to 5.1%, exceeding expectations of a drop to 5.2%.
These good figures had a limited initial reaction – AUD USD rose above the resistance line of 0.9220, but the first attempt failed and it fell back to around 0.92. But as the European session opened, and especially after the New York session began, the Australian dollar kept on moving forward. At the time of writing, the pair trades at 0.9270.
The next resistance line appears at 0.9327, which is a very strong line. A break above this line will send the pair towards minor resistance at 0.9366 and fierce resistance at 0.9405. In case of a drop, the Aussie will find support at 0.9220 which is now a support line, followed by 0.9135 and 0.9080.
The Australian dollar also enjoys risk appetite – the unexpected improvement in US weekly unemployment claims, 451K instead of 470K, brings an optimistic mood to the markets – and this supports “risky†currencies such as the Australian dollar.
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