Dollar boosted by US jobs data

Dollar, graffiti, moneyThe Australian dollar is higher after the release of solid US employment figures as traders wait for the release of local economic data on Monday.

At 0700 AEST on Monday, the local unit was trading at 79.29 US cents, up from 79.11 cents on Friday.

Bank of New Zealand currency strategist, Raiko Shareef, said the Australian dollar would probably range between 79.00 and 79.50 US cents on Monday morning in the lead up to the release of the National Australia Bank’s monthly business survey for April.

Shareef said major factors impacting the local currency since Friday’s close was US non-farm payrolls, released Friday night Australian time.

“That came in broadly in line with what the market expected,” he told AAP.

“But at the end of the day the market decided to focus on essentially a pretty significant downward revision to the previous month and also the fact that wage growth was quite weak.

“It wasn’t good enough to suggest that rate hikes were coming in the near future.”

US non-farm payrolls rose 228,000 in April, which was just short of market expectations, with the unemployment rate of 5.4 per cent matching expectations.

You have 7 articles remaining. Unlock 15 free articles a month, it’s free.