AUD/USD revisits sub-0.77 levels after weak Aussie unemployment data

An unexpected drop in the Australia employment in February is weighing over the Aussie dollar. The AUD/USD pair hit a session low of 0.7692 immediately after the data release. 

Full time employment drops

The economy shed 6.4K jobs in Feb as opposed to the expected growth of 16K. The details of the report show the full time employment dropped 44.5K, while the part time employment rose 58.2K. 

The drop in the full time employment is not being well received by the markets. This is evident from the Aussie 10-yr bond yield, which dropped from 2.858% to 2.815% following the data release. 

The spot dropped to 0.7692, but quickly recovered to 0.77 handle largely due to broad based USD weakness. The focus remains on the market’s overall appetite for the US dollars. 

AUD/USD Technical Levels

A break above 0.7741 (Feb 23 high) would open doors for 0.7778 (Nov 8 high). A violation there on the daily chart could see the spot target 2016 high of 0.7835. On the downside, strong support is seen at 0.7649 (Feb 21 low), which, if breached could yield a sell-off to 0.76 (zero figure) and possibly to 0.7580 (Mar 14 high).