Forex Pros – The Australian dollar tumbled to a two-week low against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, weighed by unexpectedly weak domestic employment data and disappointing Chinese trade data.
AUD/USD hit 1.0023 during late Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since February 24; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0037, tumbling 0.68%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9981, the low of February 23 and resistance at 1.0131, Wednesday’s high.
Earlier in the day, official data showed that Australia’s economy lost jobs in February for the first time in 18 months.
The Statistics Bureau said overall employment fell 10,100 in February, compared to expectations of an increase of 20,000. However, much of the decline was due to a drop in part-time workers, with full-time employment rising robustly.
Also Thursday, government data showed that China unexpectedly posted a trade deficit of USD7.3 billion in February, it’s largest in seven years, as the Lunar New Year holiday disrupted export activity.
China’s imports rose at an annualized rate of 19.4% in February, below the 32.8% consensus, while exports rose 2.4%, far below the expected 25.9%. China is Australia’s largest trading partner.
The Aussie was also lower against the euro, with EUR/AUD easing up 0.06% to hit 1.3768.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish a key weekly report on initial jobless claims as well as data on the country’s trade balance.
ForexPros.com
