Forex

The Australian dollar sharply grew on the strongest February’s employment change report

Asian and European trading sessions:

Euro: The EUR / USD pair was trading around $ 1.3060 during the Asian session. The currency weakened against the U.S. dollar on the background of launched today a 2-day summit, which will focus on the problems of stimulating economic growth in conditions of high unemployment. The economic news published on Thursday demonstrated that in the 4th quarter of 2012, the employment rate in the euro zone fell by 0.8 % in yearly term and by 0.3 % quarterly against the previous values of by 0.6 % and by 0.1% respectively. In addition, the unemployment rate in Greece has increased to the level of 26 % in Q4. The EUR / USD pair fell to $ 1.2909 during the European session.

British Pound: The pound rose today from the weakest level in seven months amid the speculation that Qatar will invest in infrastructure projects in Britain. These rumors directly led to increased demand for sterling. The growth of the currency, in addition, was also associated with the fact that many market participants were waiting for the publication of the annual budget for 2013.The GBP / USD during the Asian session, the pair hit the level of $ 1.4915 and on the next following session demonstrated good upward move making the high at around $ 1.5040 area.

Japanese Yen: The Japanese yen rose against its rivals after the economic adviser of the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Mr. Hamada warned the ruling party that the targeting of the exchange rate can lead to currency wars. In addition, he said that if the future head of the Bank of Japan, Mr. Kuroda will perform too diligently his duties the inflation rate may reach 4.5 %, which can be dangerous for Japan. The USD / JPY pair fell to Y95.62 during the Asian session and then rose to Y96.54 during the European one.

Australian dollar: After February’s data showed the strongest monthly growth in employment in Australia over the past 13 years the Australian dollar rose against all major currencies. These data reduced the likelihood of further lowering interest rates. the number of jobs in Australia in February, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, increased by 71,500 compared with January while the number of jobs with part-time employment increased by 53 700. The expectations of the economists were at the rise of jobs only by10000. The unemployment rate in Australia, however, remained unchanged in February at 5.4 %.


American trading session:

U.S. Dollar: The demand for the dollar could not save even better than expected data from the Labor market. The Ministry of Labor presented today another positive sign for the U.S. economy, publishing the statistics that showed that the number of initial claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell in the week ended March 9. The report shows that the number of applications for unemployment benefits fell to 332K for the week ended of March 10. The number was by 10K less from the previous week's revised figure of 342K. The decrease in value surprised the markets, who had expected that the number of applications for unemployment benefits will increase to 355K from 340K, which was originally reported last week. The number of continuing claims has been also decreased from 3.113 million to 3.024 million versus the forecast of 3.090 million.

Gold: The April futures price of gold on the COMEX finished this day at the 1590.30 dollars per ounce level.

Oil: The presented data by the EIA today showed that for the week on March 8, the reserves of natural gas in the U.S. fell by 145 billion cubic feet compare with decline of 146 billion cubic feet. The April futures price of WTI rose to 93.23 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.