The New Zealand dollar eased slightly on Wednesday as the country's jobless rate jumped and wage growth remained sluggish, while its Australian counterpart took a breather after three straight sessions of gains. New Zealand unemployment rose to 5.2 percent in the December quarter, from an eight-year low of 4.8 percent, but only because participation grew to a record.
The New Zealand dollar fell as low as $0.7280 after the data, drifting away from a 10-week high of $0.7345 as investors pared back the chance of a rate hike. It was trading down 0.5 percent at 0209 GMT. The data "won't worry the Reserve Bank of New Zealand too much, but the chances of it raising interest rates this year are very slim since wage growth will remain stubbornly weak," said economist Kate Hickie at Capital Economics.
Across the Tasman Sea, the Australian dollar eased 0.3 percent to $0.7560. It faces stiff chart resistance at 76 US cents, a level it has breached twice in the past month but failed to stay above that level for an entire session. The currency has remained in a tight trading range between 75-76 US cents over the past 12 sessions. Technical analysts say a break above $0.7610/20 would open the way for a jump to $0.7720/40. Elsewhere, the Antipodean currencies eased against the yen, the euro and the pound. The euro rose 0.2 percent against the Aussie and 0.4 percent against the Kiwi. The Aussie and the Kiwi slipped 0.2 percent each on the yen.
New Zealand government bonds rose, sending yields about 2.5 basis points lower across the curve. Australian government bond futures eased, with the three-year bond contract off 1 tick at 98.06. The 10-year contract slipped 1.5 ticks to 97.24. Both the Kiwi and the Aussie have had a strong run against the greenback so far this year, surging about 5.5 percent each in January.
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