Aussie Dollar Slides After Drop in Jobs; Kiwi Falls on Prices
Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Nigel Heap, managing director for Asia Pacific at Hays, talks about the outlook for Australia's jobs market as the statistics bureau said in Sydney today the number of people employed fell by 29,300. Australian employers unexpectedly cut workers in December for a second straight month amid heightened risks to global economic growth, sending the nation’s currency lower. Heap speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)
Australia’s dollar fell for the first time in three days against its U.S. counterpart after a government report showed the nation’s employers unexpectedly cut jobs in December.
New Zealand’s dollar, nicknamed the kiwi, slid from the highest level in 11 weeks after consumer prices unexpectedly dropped in the fourth quarter. The Aussie fell against all of its 16 most-traded peers except the yen and kiwi before a Jan. 25 report on consumer prices that may prompt investors to increase bets on an interest-rate cut next month from the Reserve Bank of Australia.
“The knee-jerk reaction was to take the Aussie dollar lower,” said Mike Jones, a currency strategist at Bank of New Zealand in Wellington. “We’ll probably need to see a weakish- looking CPI number next week to really make the case for a cut from the RBA.”
Australia’s dollar fell 0.2 percent to $1.0415 at 11:47 a.m. New York time. It rose 0.3 percent to 80.45 yen.
The New Zealand dollar fell 0.3 percent to 80.17 U.S. cents from yesterday, when it climbed to as high as 80.82 cents, the most since Nov. 1. It gained 0.2 percent to 61.95 yen.
The number of people employed in Australia fell by 29,300, the statistics bureau said today. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey was for an increase of 10,000.
Traders are betting RBA Governor Glenn Stevens will lower rates for a third straight meeting when policy makers meet on Feb. 7, with a Credit Suisse Group AG index based on swaps indicating an 86 percent chance the benchmark will be cut by a quarter of a percentage point. The rate is 4.25 percent now.
New Zealand’s currency ended a two-day rally against the greenback after a statistics bureau report showed consumer prices declined 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three-month period, when they advanced 0.4 percent.-
To contact the reporter on this story: Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net
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