Forex Market: AUD/USD with daily gains before Australian employment data

Australian dollar traded slightly higher against its US counterpart on Tuesday ahead of the report on employment change in Australia during February, scheduled to be published on March 13th.

AUD/USD reached a session high at 0.9043 at 6:59 GMT, while at 7:16 GMT the pair was gaining 0.16% on a daily basis to trade at 0.9035. Support was likely to be found at 0.9000, while resistance was to be encountered at March 10th high, 0.9064.

Employers in Australia probably added 15 300 new jobs in February, according to the median estimate of experts, after a month ago economy lost 3 700 jobs. At the same time, the rate of unemployment in the country probably remained steady at 6.0% last month. The official numbers are expected to be released on March 13th.

Earlier today the National Australia Bank (NAB) announced the results of its survey on business confidence, as the corresponding gauge came in at a reading of 7 in February. In January it pointed to a value of 9, which has been a revision up from 8 previously. Readings above zero indicate that the number of business entities in Australia, that expect a positive development of their business operations exceeds the number of those, that expect a negative scenario.

Yesterday the Aussie lost ground against major peers, after a report from March 8th revealed that Chinese exports unexpectedly declined 18.1% in February compared to the same month a year ago, which confounded the median estimate of experts, pointing to a 6.8% gain. In the mean time, nation’s imports climbed 10.1% in February, which exceeded preliminary estimates of an 8.0% gain. This produced the most considerable trade deficit in two years, or 22.98 billion USD last month.

Also on Monday, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) cut the reference rate of the Chinese yuan by 0.18%, which has been the most since July 2012.

Safe haven demand was still present, as markets watch closely the situation on the Crimean peninsula. Ukrainian armed forces are testing the combat readiness of troops, as announced by nations Ministry of Defense yesterday on its website. Russia, which has vowed to defend the ethnic Russians in Crimea after an uprising in Kiev, accused Ukraine of ignoring radicals in the region, as reported by Bloomberg.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that he would visit Washington on March 12, as Russia’s President Vladimir Putin encouraged the actions of Crimea’s local government. A vote on March 16th may be used by the Crimean government in order to leave Ukraine and join Russia.

Elsewhere, the Aussie was gaining against the euro, as EUR/AUD cross fell 0.32% for the day to trade at 1.5335 at 7:51 GMT, after reaching a daily low at 1.5323. AUD/NZD was little changed, dipping 0.08% to trade at 1.0640 at 7:53 GMT. The pair earlier touched a session low at 1.0630, which has been the lowest level since February 28th.