AUD/NZD surges above1.0750 after the upbeat Australian Jobs number

• Australian Employment data boosts AUD/NZD, eye on 1.07800 mark.
• Disappointing NZ GDP data weigh on the NZD, fueling AUD/NZD gains.
• Aussie jobs number boost 25 bps RBA hike for the next meeting. 

AUD/NZD is up around 0.50% following the release of February's Australian Employment Change data. The jobs number exceeded expectations, with Employment Change at 64.6K vs. 48.5K expected, from a prior -11.5K. The Unemployment rate also ticked down to 3.5% from the previous 3.7%. Full-time employment saw a significant surge to 74.9K from the previous -43.3K. 

The positive jobs numbers, coming after two downbeat readings in December and January, will likely encourage the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to implement an additional 25 basis points (bps) rate hike in their next meeting, despite signaling a pause thereafter.

In contrast, the New Zealand Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for the fourth quarter of 2022came in worse than expected, with the quarterly reading at -0.6% vs. -0.2% from the previous 2% and the yearly reading at 2.2% vs. 3.3%, from the prior 6.4%. 

The economic contraction was driven by flat consumption, a decline in real national gross disposable income, and muted investment in the industrial sectors. It's important to note that this figure, representing Q4 2022, does not include the economic impact of cyclone Gabrielle.

This growth data may prompt the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) to reconsider its hawkish stance during the next RBNZ meeting scheduled on April 5th. Despite many market forecasters anticipating a 25 bps rate hike from the RBNZ in April, the upside bias for AUD/NZD remains intact as economic data continues to diverge for both economies.

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