Australia released jobs figures for October overnight. Employment rose by 16k, less than expected and marking a slowdown from September’s strong 61k print. At the same time, unemployment was unchanged at 4.1% with the participation rate edging 0.1% lower, ING’s FX analyst Francesco Pesole notes.
“The Australian dollar was not really impacted by the release and continues to trade in line with the broader dollar dynamics. Interestingly, EUR/AUD is more than 1% weaker since election night, a signal that markets currently prefer to price in greater risks for the eurozone than for China (and by extension its proxies) when it comes to Trump’s expected agenda.”
“Should a USD correction materialise in the next few days, we suspect AUD could rally more than other peers, as the latest data and policy communication still point to no rush by the Reserve Bank of Australia to turn dovish and markets may retain a relatively sanguine view on Antipodeans when compared to European currencies. We think a return to the 0.6550 level is possible in AUD/USD in the near term.”