The Australian Dollar strengthened to its best level in over four-months over the weekend as last week’s disappointing non-farm payrolls report out of the US weighed upon the ‘Greenback’.
When the payrolls data was released the AUD to USD exchange rate leapt by more than half a cent. The US currency fell after last Friday’s jobs report showed that the world’s largest economy added 192,000 jobs in March, disappointing the markets who had been forecasting a rise to 200,000.
In Monday’s session the Aussie retreated slightly but remains above the 92 cents level. The currency softened slightly earlier after traders cut their bearish bets to the lowest amount seen in almost a year.
Traders also embarked on a bout of profit taking.
“A little bit of consolidation is really the name of the game, and profit taking after the strong rally we’ve seen in the last week or so. Aussie is looking rather toppy around 93 US cents,” said a senior currency strategist at Royal Bank of Canada.
The currency was finding support from industry data which showed that job advertisements in Australia rose by 1.4% in March, after a 4.7% increase in February, whose figure was revised down from a previously estimated 5.1% gain.
A separate report showed that the Australian Construction sector contracted at a slower rate than forecast in March.
According to the Australian Industry Group’s Housing Industry Association’s Performance of Construction Index (PCI) edged higher by 2 points to 46.2. It is the third straight month that the index has come in below 50, the margin that separates contraction from expansion.
Australian Dollar (AUD) Exchange Rates
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Australian Dollar,
,US Dollar,0.9284 ,
Australian Dollar,, Pound Sterling,0.5603 ,
Australian Dollar,,Euro,0.6769 ,
Australian Dollar,,New Zealand Dollar,1.0791 ,
[/table]
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