Forex - AUD/USD mixed after upbeat Australian housing market demand

Investing.com – The Australian dollar traded mixed against the U.S. dollar after Australia’s November housing market demand came in better than expected.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics the new home loans granted for owner-occupied homes rose by 1.1%, same as in October, but better than the 1.0% expected.

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group job advertisements report that measures the change in the number of jobs advertised in the major daily newspapers and Websites in the capital cities showed a decline of 0.07% in December. This was a slower pace of decline from -0.09% in November.

The Japanese markets are closed for a public holiday.

AUD/USD traded at 0.8989, down 0.08%, while USD/JPY traded at 104.01 down 0.16% and NZD/USD was down 0.22% at 0.8285.

On Friday, the U.S. dollar fell against the other main currencies after data showing that the U.S. economy added the fewest jobs in three years in December tempered expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut its stimulus program again this month.

The U.S. economy added 74,000 jobs last month the Labor Department said, the smallest increase since January 2011 and well below expectations for 196,000 new jobs.

The unemployment rate fell to a five year low of 6.7% from 7% in November, but this was due in part to people dropping out of the labor force. The labor participation rate fell to an almost 35-year low of 62.8%.

Inclement weather in December contributed to the slowdown in hiring, as the construction sector cut 16,000 jobs, the biggest drop in the industry in 20 months.

The Fed cited a stronger labor market in its decision to cut its asset purchase program by USD10 billion in December, reducing it to USD75 billion-a-month.

EUR/USD rose to 1.3667, down 0.01%. USD/CHF was down 0.02% at 0.9022.

Elsewhere, the dollar rose to more than four year highs against the Canadian dollar on Friday, following an unexpectedly weak Canadian jobs report for December.

Statistics Canada said the economy shed 45,900 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate rose to 7.2%, rising above the U.S. unemployment rate for the first time since September 2008.

USD/CAD rose 0.11% to 1.0905.

The CFTC Commitments of Traders report for the week ending January 7 showed that speculators have been aggressively shorting the Canadian dollar. Gross shorts have risen to 91,000 contracts, up 4,915 from the previous week.

Meanwhile, net long euro positions were cut in half, falling from 30,600 contracts to 14,500. The net short yen position of 129,000 contracts is the smallest since late November.

In the week ahead, investors will be closely watching U.S. data on retail sales, inflation and consumer sentiment, as well as speeches by two Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up at 80.75.