Australian Dollar Slips Before Jobless Data; N.Z. Dollar Lower

By Candice Zachariahs

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- The Australian dollar declined for a fifth day, its longest losing streak since January, before a report forecast to show the nation’s unemployment rate rose to a five-year high. New Zealand’s currency also weakened.

The currencies also fell as Fitch Ratings lowered Ireland’s top AAA credit rating by one level and the U.K. economy shrank 1.5 percent in the first quarter, signaling Europe’s economic woes are deepening. Australia’s jobless rate climbed for a third month to 5.4 percent, the most since 2004, according to the median estimate of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

“With the Australian dollar holding above 70 U.S. cents for the fifth consecutive trading session, today’s numbers could be a real test,” wrote Matthew Strauss, senior currency trader at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto, in a note to clients. “A break below this level could indicate a reversal in the month- long rally.”

Australia’s currency slipped 0.1 percent to 70.95 U.S. cents as of 8:03 a.m. in Sydney from 71.01 cents late in New York yesterday. The currency fell 0.1 percent to 70.78 yen. The Australian dollar will find buyers at 69.81 cents, Strauss said.

New Zealand’s dollar declined 0.2 percent to 57.89 U.S. cents from 57.97 in New York yesterday and bought 57.74 yen.

New Zealand’s currency declined after a report showed house prices fell 9.4 percent in March from a year earlier. The drop in average prices was the biggest since the series began in 2005, according to Quotable Value New Zealand Ltd., the Wellington- based government valuation agency. Prices have been dropping since July as the nation struggles to emerge from five quarters of contraction.

The South Pacific nations’ dollars both weakened after minutes of the Federal Reserve’s March meeting showed officials feared the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, might fall into a self-reinforcing cycle of rising unemployment and slumping business and consumer spending.

To contact the reporter on this story: Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net