SYDNEY, Oct 17 Reuters Australian employment beat forecasts for a sixth straight month in September, while the jobless rate held steady, reinforcing the view that the labour market remains tight as market bets for a rate cut by year end diminish.
The Australian dollar rose 0.5 to 0.6698, rebounding from a onemonth low, while the threeyear government bond yield jumped 7 basis points to 3.829.
Markets pared the chance for a first interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia in December to 30 from 46 before the data. They39;re now even not sure if a cut can come in February next year, with just 75 priced in.
We see no incentive to shift from our call that the RBA won39;t even start cutting rates until 1Q2025, and there is a chance that even this is too aggressive, said Robert Carnell, regional head of research, Asia Pacific, ING.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed net employment surged 64,100 in September from August, when they rose a downwardly revised 42,600.
That was well above market forecasts for a 25,000 rise, and most of the gains were in fulltime employment.
The jobless rate held relatively steady at a downwardly adjusted 4.1 where it has generally been over the past six months, noted the ABS.
The participation rate edged up to another alltime high of 67.2 as the workforce expanded rapidly.
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, noted that there are still large numbers of people entering the labour force and…