Australian Dollar slides back closer to one-week low vs NZD on dismal Aussie jobs report

The AUD/NZD cross meets with a fresh supply during the Asian session on Thursday and slides closer to the previous day's low, around the 1.2150 region in reaction to the disappointing Australian employment data.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported that the Unemployment Rate unexpectedly rose to 4.5% in April from 4.3% in the previous month. Additional details revealed that the number of employed people fell by 18.6K during the reported month, missing consensus estimates for a rise of 17.5K and well below the 17.9K growth recorded in March. The disappointing readings might have tempered market bets for further rate hikes by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), which, in turn, undermines the Australian Dollar (AUD) and weighs on the AUD/NZD cross.

The New Zealand Dollar (NZD), on the other hand, draws some support from a more hawkish shift in the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's (RBNZ) outlook. In fact, investors now seem convinced that the central bank would maintain a cautious stance or consider tightening to bring inflation back to the 2% midpoint. This turns out to be another factor exerting pressure on the AUD/NZD cross. However, the lack of strong follow-through selling warrants some caution before positioning for an extension of the recent pullback from the highest level since March 2013.