WELLINGTON: Australian and New Zealand dollars continued to move on against the other major currencies in the Asian session, as optimism about the outlook for monetary policy in both US and Europe as well as rise in crude oil prices boosted investor sentiment.
Wall Street, the continued strength, partly reflected optimism about the outlook for monetary policy following Wednesday’s release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.
While the minutes did not offer much new information, they seemed to reassure traders that the Federation will not start raising interest rates before late April.
The US initial jobless claims edged down to 294,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 298,000, suggesting a tightening labor market.
Positive sentiment was also generated by a letter from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi reiterating his intent to provide further stimulus.
Further rebounding oil prices also boosted investor confidence. Crude oil for February delivery is currently up $0.45 to $49.24 per barrel.
The US jobs expected to show that non-farm payrolls increased by 245,000 in December after jumping by 321,000 jobs in November.
