AUD/USD clings to daily gains near 0.6870 supported by upbeat jobs report
- Unemployment rate in Australia fell to 5.2% in November.
- China introduces tariff exclusions that will apply to 6 types of US imports.
- US Dollar Index consolidates Wednesday's gains near 97.30.
The AUD/USD pair stayed under modest selling pressure during the first half of the week but rose sharply on the back of upbeat labour market data on Thursday. After touching a daily high of 0.6884, the pair has gone into a consolidation phase and was last seen trading at 0.6872, adding 0.3% on a daily basis.
AUD gathers strength on inspiring data
The unemployment rate in Australia fell to 5.2% in November from 5.3% in October, the data published by the Australia Bureau of Statistics revealed on Thursday. Employment Change came in at +39.9K in the same period to beat analysts' estimate of 14K. Moreover, Fulltime Employment, which declined more than 10K in October, rose 4.2K.
In addition to the strong jobs report, China's state news agency reported that China has announced new tariff exclusions for six types of US products to provide additional support to the trade-sensitive AUD.
On the other hand, following Wednesday's upsurge fueled by a sharp increase in the 10-year US Treasury bond yield, the US Dollar Index retraced a portion of its gains to help the pair stay afloat in the positive territory. Ahead of weekly Jobless Claims, Existing Home Sales and Philly Fed Manufacturing Index data from the US, the index is down 0.16% on the day at 97.25.
Technical levels to watch for