FxWirePro: AUD/USD jumps to a 15-month high as strong jobs data boosts RBA rate hike expectations

• AUD/USD hit  15-month high on Thursday as  strong Australian jobs data boosted RBA rate hike expectations  .

•  Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed the jobless rate unexpectedly dropped to 4.1%, the lowest level since May last year, from 4.3%.. 

• Net employment jumped by 65,200 in December from November, when it dropped a revised 28,700. That was way above market forecasts of a 30,000 gain, while full-time jobs rebounded by 54,800.

•  The participation rate ticked up to 66.7%, from 66.6%, while hours worked rose 0.4% to a record of over 2 billion hours.

• Fourth-quarter inflation figures due next Wednesday look set to make or break the case of a February hike.

•  Immediate resistance is located at 0.6804(Daily high), any close above will push the pair towards 0.6833 (23.6%fib).

•  Support is seen at 0.6758(38.2%fib) and break below could take the pair towards 0.6709(SMA 20)

Recommendation: Good to buy around 0.6780 with stop loss of 0.6740, and target price of 0.6850