On Thursday, the AUD/USD pair is reacting to the statistics and mixed market sentiment.
The Australian dollar on Thursday afternoon retreats in tandem with its US counterpart. The current quote in the AUD/USD is 0.7163. With this, the instrument is staying inside a short range with the limits of 0.7063-0.7186.
Statistics on Australia published this morning was not too positive. The unemployment rate in January rose to 6.0% against the previous figure of 5.8%. The number of jobs in the last month decreased by 7.9 thousand against the expectation of growth by 15.0 thousand. Both full time and part time jobs decreased. At the same time it is evident that the proportion of the employed population has not changed, it is 65.2%.
The components of the employment report show that Australians are several times more likely to seek employment in full-time jobs than part-time. The report is not the most optimistic, but it is early for conclusions: now the seasonal factor is at work, and it can be smoothed out in the next month.
The weak release on Australian employment was partly offset by statistics from China. Here morning inflation data for January has been published. The consumer price index in China rose by 1.8% y/y during the reporting period, and it is not bad, but still weaker than expected. Earlier this year, China has worked vigorously with respect to the stabilization of the economic situation, actively controlling the levels of liquidity in the system. It could also affect the rates of inflation.
RoboForex Analytical Department
