New Zealand was not the only country to add jobs as Australia also pleasantly surprised Forex traders with improving employment and an unexpected drop of the unemployment rate.
Australian employment grew by 50,100 in April on a seasonally adjusted basis, compared to the forecast of 11,500. Employment contracted by 31,100 in March. The unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked down by 0.1 percentage point to 5.5 percent. Investors trimmed their bets on an interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia even though the central bank hinted that it may reduce borrowing costs further.
AUD/USD climbed from 1.0169 to 1.0225 and AUD/JPY edged up from 100.65 to 100.99 as of 11:38 GMT today.
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