The New Zealand dollar is under widespread selling pressure following the release of mixed jobs data earlier in the Asian session today.
New Zealand's unemployment rate rose to 3.6% in the second quarter from 3.4% recorded the previous quarter, and was higher than the expected 3.5%.
Meanwhile, annual wage inflation eased to 4.3% but employment rose 1% from the previous three months, beating market expectations for a 0.6% increase.
This indirectly shows that the strengthening in the labor market is starting to subside even though it is still seen as tight.
This supports the actions of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) last month which has kept its interest rate unchanged at 5.50%.
In addition, the central bank has also signaled that it has raised rates enough to tame inflation and the economy has stalled, suggesting the unemployment rate should continue to rise.
As a result, markets expect the RBNZ to leave interest rates unchanged later this month and say signs of easing in the labor market will provide some comfort to the central bank.
The latest data has pressured the kiwi dollar to trade further lower, seeing it trade 0.8% lower against the greenback to around 0.6095 at the time of writing.
