Australian labor market data released Thursday morning in the Asian session from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the unemployment rate decreased to 4% in February from 4.2%, exceeding expectations that indicated a decline to 4.1% despite the high participation rate in the labor market to 66.4%.

On the other hand, the economy added about 77,400 thousand jobs in February, an increase of about 0.6% compared to the revised January reading to 28.3 thousand jobs, bringing the total jobs at an annual rate to 13,372,000 million jobs.

The Australian dollar continues to rise, benefiting from this data, by trading it at 0.7320 levels before the opening of the European markets.

New Zealand growth

data below expectations On the other hand, New Zealand’s gross domestic product rose by 3% in the fourth and final quarter of last year ending in December, compared to a decline of about 3.6% in the revised third quarter reading, and less than the market expectations, which indicated a growth of about 3.3%.

In details, the service industry, which represents about a third of the economy, recorded a growth of about 2.5%, while it rose on an annual basis by about 5.6%, and industries producing goods, which represent about one fifth of the economy, increased by about 6.5%, in contrast, the primary industries declined by about 2.2%.

The New Zealand dollar is trading at 0.6837 levels, slightly higher against the US dollar.