Asian currencies, the Aussie dollar and New Zealand traded higher on Thursday after being shown by readings of two economic data published during the Asian session.
Australia’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in more than 13 years in February by falling to 4.0% from 4.2% previously recorded and also exceeding expectations to fall at 4.1%.
This in turn marks the continued strong recovery in the Australian job market, seeing as many as 77,400 job additions were created in the past month.
The figure also suggests that the Australian Central Bank (RBA) may be able to see the wage increase it wants before raising interest rates. Market players now expect the RBA to increase rates between June and August.
The Aussie dollar surged higher following this strengthening to trade at 0.7300 against the declining US dollar.
Meanwhile, the kiwi dollar also rose after data showed Gross Domestic Product (GDP) returned to growth in the last quarter of 2021 with an expansion of 3.0% from a previous contraction of 3.6%.
Although slightly off track from expectations for 3.3%growth, analysts see the data recorded will support the New Zealand Central Bank’s (RBNZ) expectations to raise interest rates again.
Following the release of the data, the kiwi dollar traded stronger at around 0.6840 against the US dollar. The strengthening was also supported by the depreciation of the greenback dollar following the announcement of its policy decision.
