ForexLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: AUD drops after the Australian jobs report | Forexlive

It
was a mixed day across major FX. EUR/USD, for example, extended its
Wednesday losses just a touch to lows circa 1.0783 before managing to
bounce back above 1.1800.

As
mentioned in the headline the Australian dollar was on the soft side.
Australia’s December labour market report showed unemployment above
expected and a net loss of jobs in the month against a rise expected.
Some of the disappointment was reduced by the job losses being in
part-time while full-time job numbers rose. Nevertheless, AUD/USD
extended its Wednesday fall to lows under 0.6900. Its crawled back
above the figure as I post.

NZD/USD
traded a little lower with AUD/USD. New Zealand’s Prime Minister
announced she’d be resigning on February 7 and not contesting the
upcoming
election

in October this year. PM Jacinda Ardern has been in
the job for just over 5 years and said as her reason:

• “I
  know what this job takes and I know I no longer have enough in the
  tank to do it justice.”

USD/JPY
continued its swings, albeit in a much smaller range than
Wednesday’s. As I update its on its lows for the session circa
128.20. Data from Japan today showed another in its long string of monthly trade deficits. Exporters performed solidly. The stronger yen and falling energy prices helped lower the import bill.

From the Federal Reserve we heard more from Harker. Dallas branch President Logan also spoke, stating her support for a +25bp Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) rate hike at the upcoming January 31/February 1 meeting.

Oil
fell while gold steadied a touch better bid.