The AUD/USD pair plummets to near 0.6280 during North American trading hours on Thursday. The Aussie pair faces an intense sell-off as the Australian Dollar (AUD) underperforms its peers due to weak employment data for February.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the labor force unexpectedly witnessed a massive lay-off. Australian employers fired 52.8K workers, while economists expected a fresh addition of 30K. In January, the economy added 30.5K payrolls, downwardly revised from 44K. The Unemployment Rate remains steady at 4.1%, as expected
Weak employment data has resulted in a slight increase in Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) dovish bets. Traders see a 78% chance that the RBA will cut interest rates again in its May policy meeting, slightly up from 70%.
Meanwhile, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) has kept its one-year and five-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) unchanged at 3.6% and 3.1%, respectively. The PBoC continues to maintain a dovish interest rate stance as Beijing aims to boost domestic consumption and revive the realty sector. The Australian Dollar benefits from China's attempts to boost fiscal stimulus as the Australian economy relies significantly on exports to China.
On the US Dollar (USD) front, the US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback's value against six major currencies, jumps slightly above 104.00 as dust settles over the Federal Reserve's (Fed) monetary policy meeting on Wednesday. The Fed kept interest rates steady in the range of 4.25%-4.50%, as expected, for the second time in a row and maintained the forecast of two interest rate cuts this year.
On the domestic front, Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending March 14 come in at 223K, almost in line with estimates and the former release.
Source: Fxstreet
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