Australian Dollar Lower on Mixed Bag for Jobs Data

 
   


By James Glynn 
 

        SYDNEY--The Australian dollar was lower Thursday after data showing unemployment rose in July, even as employment grew strongly.
        The Australian dollar was trading at US$0.7337 at 0640 GMT, down from US$0.7351 late Wednesday.
        On Thursday, the government statistician reported that the jobless rate rose to 6.3% in July, from 6.1% in June. And yet the number of people in employment jumped by 38,500-a much bigger figure than economists were expecting.
        Despite the pace of job creation now running at its fastest in four years, unemployment still appears to be trending higher.
        Economists said the mismatch can be explained, in part, by a big rise in the number of people actively seeking work in July. The workforce participation rate, as it is called, climbed to 65.1%, from 64.8% in June, the bureau's figures show.
        Still, Australia's central bank will want greater clarity on the job market before it can confidently make policy changes, traders said.
        The Reserve Bank of Australia will publish forecast for growth, inflation and unemployment on Friday.
        But bigger factors loom for the currency, such as interest rate increases in the U.S., traders said.
        Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at online trader ThinkForex said that with commodities in a secular bear trend and the greenback likely to strengthen further with any hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve, the "RBA's monetary policy is likely to become less of a driving for the Australian dollar in the weeks ahead."
        -Write to James Glynn at james.glynn@wsj.com
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        August 06, 2015 02:51 ET (06:51 GMT)

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