The Aussie jumped in Asia on Thursday after data showed a huge rise in jobs last month. The yen was slightly weaker after mixed data.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7141, up 1.13%.
In Australia, employment
data showed a whopping gain of 58,600 jobs in October compared with a
gain of 15,000 jobs seen, dropping the unemployment rate to 5.9% from
6.2% in a participation rate of 65%, higher than the 64.9% expected.
Australia's S&P ASX was 0.02% higher, while China's Shanghai Composite gauge lost 0.43%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 2.12%.
In Japan, the corporate goods price gauge dipped 3.8% for October, compared with a fall of 3.5% seen year-on-year, as well as core machinery orders for September fell 1.7%, less than the decline of 4.0% seen year-on-year.
USD/JPY was last at 122.95, up 0.07%.
Earlier in the session, the greenback was edging lower, tracking
the overnight selling pressure with investors locking in profits on the
currency’s recent gains. But a late-morning rise in the Nikkei Stock
Average, albeit at only a moderate pace, helped brighten the mood,
prompting yen selling. The Nikkei 225 closed up 0.03%.
Elsewhere in the currency trading, the euro rose against the greenback on short covering after a mixture of hawkish and dovish comments related to possible monetary-policy decisions at the European Central Bank’s Dec. 3 meeting.
ECB governing council member Ardo Hansson said in an interview
with The Wall Street Journal there was no necessity currently for the ECB to slash its policy rates, including the deposit rate.
EUR/USD was last at 1.0753, up 0.08%.
The euro rose against the pound with EUR/GBP last seen at 0.7070, up 0.13%.
Market players are becoming more convinced that the U.S. Federal Reserve will increase short-term rates in December. However, as analysts admit, they still aren’t fully confident about the U.S. central bank’s timetable.
Investors are looking to see if Fed officials including Chairwoman Janet Yellen later Thursday will offer any hints about the central bank’s plans for its December policy-setting meeting.
