SYDNEY: The Australian dollar edged higher on Thursday after a surprise surge in employment helped offset weakness in key commodity prices, while the New Zealand dollar struggled as markets wagered a string of rate cuts lay ahead.

The Aussie crept up to $0.6609, from an early low of $0.6570 and back toward Wednesday’s top of $0.6643. Support comes in around $0.6565.

The kiwi dollar was pinned at $0.5990, having shed 1.3% on Wednesday when the country’s central bank cut interest rates for the first time in four years. It has support around $0.5985.

The Aussie had been pressured by a drop in prices for iron ore, the country’s biggest export earner, after the world’s largest steel producer China Baowu Steel Group warned the industry faced a long downturn.

In a boost to sentiment, Australian data showed jobs jumped 58,200 in July to blow away forecasts of a 20,000 gain.

The jobless rate still ticked up to a 2-1/2 year top of 4.2%, but only because the workforce was expanding even faster than employment.

The strength of labour demand could reinforce the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) argument that a rate cut is unlikely this year given how sticky inflation is proving.

“The big picture is that the labour market is cooling gradually,” said By Abhijit Surya, an economist at Capital Economics, noting vacancies were on a downward trend.

“However, given the ongoing strength in job creation, it will be a while before the RBA drops its tightening bias.”

Markets scaled back the probability of a November rate cut to 44%, from 56% before the data, but are still almost fully priced for a quarter-point easing in December.

Australia shares boosted by corporate earnings, soft US data

Market bets are partly based on expectations the Federal Reserve will start cutting in September and add to global pressure for easier policy.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) joined the rush this week with an easing to 5.25%, a whole year ahead of its previous projections, and signalled at least one more cut this year.

Swaps are pricing in a total 73 basis points of easing at its October and November meetings, implying a chance of a half-point move at one of them.

“We forecast another 25bp rate cut at its next meeting in October, and larger 50bp cuts in November and February, once Q3 inflation is confirmed as being sub-3% y-o-y,” said Andrew Ticehurst, an economist at Nomura.

“On our profile, the OCR returns to what we consider to be a neutral level of around 3.50% by May 2025,” he added.

“At this stage, we think the risk is for a lower terminal rate, given the risk of an ongoing hard landing.”