Australian dollar stabilizes

Financial and commodity markets analytics

The Australian dollar moved higher today after a strong round of local data added to the case for the RBA to keep interest rates on hold.

At 7.10pm (GMT) the Aussie dollar was trading at  US77.11c up 0.75 percent from yesterday’s trade.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics today showed that 26,100 jobs were added to the local economy in March while the unemployment rate fell to 5.7 percent, down from 5.8 percent in February.

The news came as a surprise to analysts who had been expecting the Jobless rate to climb to 5.9 percent.

The numbers are good news for the Australian economy and comes on the back of other recent strong data and may be enough for the RBA to leave rates on hold for the foreseeable future.

“There’s clearly a trend now of a stronger labor market than many analysts were allowing for, which is consistent with other positive economic indicators,” said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy in Sydney at AMP Capital Investors Ltd.

“Any hope of an imminent rate cut is well and truly out the window on the back of these figures.” He added.

The market is now only pricing in a 16 percent chance that the Australian central bank will lift rates in May.