A report issued by Statistics New Zealand in the Asian session showed that the unemployment rate rose to 3.3% in the second quarter ending in June from 3.2% in the first quarter, while expectations indicated a decline to 3.1%.

On the other hand, the underemployment rate reached 9.2% from 9.3%, and the employment rate reached 68.5% from 68.6%, while annual wage inflation accelerated by 3.4%, which is the fastest rate since 2008.

The rise in wages is expected to be offset by a rise in inflation, which will support the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in continuing to tighten monetary policy and raise interest rates for the fourth time in a row by 50 basis points in the mid-August meeting

. The New Zealand dollar fell by about 30 pips after the numbers were announced, to test 0.6218 levels against the US dollar, before rising, and it is now trading at 0.6255 levels.