Aussie Dollar Takes Hit as US Treasury Intervention Sends Greenback Reeling

The Australian and New Zealand dollars have held near multi-week highs after a surprise US intervention in the Treasury market impacted the greenback. The move saw longer-dated debt at home get some support, but also took a hit on the Aussie dollar.

Data showed employment fell 15,800 in June, lower than analysts' expectations of a gain of 15,000. This caused the jobless rate to tick up to a near 5-year peak of 4.5%, suggesting some loosening in the labour market.

'Today's figures suggest that the labour market is indeed softening, as the RBA had hoped to see,' said Abhijit Surya, a senior APAC economist at Capital Economics. 'To be clear, the data may not be weak enough just yet for the Board to dial back its tightening bias.'

The markets imply only a 17% chance of a hike in the 4.35% cash rate at the RBA's next meeting on September 29, and up to 70% for a move to 4.60% by early next year.