Chinese Data & Labor Drives Aussie

Economic data releases from the Pacific Rim, which included July labor data from Australia as well as trade data from China, had already been putting some pressure on the Aussie Dollar ahead of the news releases. Afterward in Australia, though the unemployment rate ticked lower to 5.7%, the disappointing numbers in the employment change data, which came in at -10,200 against expectations of 5,000 new jobs, pushed the AUD/USD pair down to $0.8992 from $0.9018 ahead of the news. Chinese trade data for July showed that the trade balance fell to 17.8 billion against expectations of 26.2 billion which provided some support for the AUD/USD pair which traded at $0.9045 immediately after.

The U.S. Dollar Index, a gauge of the currency’s strength against its major rivals, edged lower to 81.229 .DXY; over the past 30 days, the Index has declined 4% which has led many investors to question the viability of the trend’s long-term upward momentum. In individual trading, the greenback had traded at 96.30 against the Japanese Yen early in the Asian session, a fresh 7-week trough, ahead of the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy and interest rate decision which was, as expected, unchanged at 0.1%. After the announcement the USD/JPY pair edged higher to 96.6650.