AUD Falls to Seven-Week Low as US Dollar Continues to Strengthen

The Australian dollar continued its downward trend on Thursday, hitting a seven-week low against the US dollar. The currency fell 0.3% to $0.7018, its lowest level since August 4, as investors favored the US dollar due to strong economic data and hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials.

Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed an unexpected rise in unemployment rate in August, reaching 4.6%, above market expectations. Despite adding more jobs than expected during the month, the mixed labor market conditions left Reserve Bank of Australia policymakers awaiting further economic data to assess their monetary policy outlook.