FXStreet (Guatemala) – AUD/USD initially spiked a marginal number of bullish pips, but then price resumed the downside, despite the jobs data that showed a lower than expected participation rate of 65.1% vs 65.2%, an unemployment rate of 5.8% vs 5.9% expected, -1k employment change headline vs -12.5k expected and an employment rate of 17.6k for December.
Good jobs data, perhaps dubious?
All in all yet another positive report that the RBA can justify towards a case for holding rates steady with at the February meeting, despite the bearish price action. Perhaps markets are taking this as a dubious result yet again. We now await the Yuan fix and China open.
AUD/USD has been sliding from the post- Chinese surprise trade data surplus and neutral yuan fix overnight highs of 0.7048. The major commodity currency succumbed to pressure in a strong greenback and falling oil yet again while stock markets were jittery in cautious market conditions. The Aussie was poised for more downside after the double top at aforementioned highs.
AUD/USD levels
Technically, the hourly cluster of ma’s on the hourly chart is a pivotal point with the bias set either side of 0.6984 and thus far, price is still well in bears territory and has no signs of recovering while the downside continues to play out. The 2016 lows at 0.6926 have been taken out ahead of 0.6907, Sep 2015 lows and lowest levels since April 2009. Below there, S3 is located at 0.6862.
(Market News Provided by FXstreet)