CANBERRA: The Australian dollar is higher on the back of a disappointing US jobs report. At 7.08am (AEST), the local unit was trading at US75.70 cents, up from US75.39 cents on Friday. Westpac senior market strategist Imre Speizer said the US payroll report released on Friday night, which showed lower-than-expected jobs gains and weak hourly earnings growth, pushed the greenback lower.
However, the losses were reversed as investors assessed the data to be no barrier to September Federal Reserve official interest rate rise. “The Australian dollar spiked to 76.12 US cents on payrolls, retraced to 75.40 cents, and is now at 75.75 cents,” he said, in a note earlier today. “The Aussie remains stuck in a 75.00-76.00 cent range today.” The major risk event for the currency on Monday is the release of the official Australia business indicator figures for the June quarter and the performance of services index.
