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2018.07.1903:17:00UTC+00Australian Dollar Firms After Strong Employment Data

The Australian dollar strengthened against its major rivals in the Asian session on Thursday, as the economy added more jobs than forecast in June.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the Australian economy added 50,900 jobs last month - shattering expectations for an increase of 16,500 following the addition of 12,000 in May.

The unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.4 percent in June.

That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous month.

Quarterly survey data from the National Australia Bank showed that Australia's business confidence weakened marginally in the three months ended June, but remained a little above average.

The business confidence index dropped to 7 in the second quarter from 8 in the previous quarter.

Asian stock markets were mostly higher, following the mostly positive cues from Wall Street overnight amid upbeat corporate earnings results and as U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reinforced his view of a strong outlook for the U.S. economy on his second day of testimony.

Crude oil prices edged higher in Asian trades after rising overnight. The aussie climbed to a 2-day high of 1.0945 against the kiwi and a 9-day high of 0.9796 against the loonie, from its early lows of 1.0879 and 0.9737, respectively. If the aussie continues its rise, 1.11 and 0.99 are possibly seen as its next resistance levels against the kiwi and the loonie, respectively.

The aussie advanced to near a 4-week high of 1.5657 against the euro and a 3-day high of 0.7441 against the greenback, off its early lows of 1.5747 and 0.7394, respectively. The aussie is likely to find resistance around 1.54 against the euro and 0.76 against the greenback.

The aussie strengthened to more than a 5-week high of 83.92 against the yen, reversing from its early low of 83.40. The next possible resistance for the aussie is seen around the 85.00 level.

Looking ahead, U.K. retail sales for June are due in the European session.

In the New York session, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended July 14 and leading index for June are scheduled for release.

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