Aussie rises over 1% following upbeat data

Australian dollar rose against most major rivals on Thursday as the greenback weakened and following upbeat US data. 

Earlier data showed Australia added 53 thousand jobs in March, beating estimates of 20.8 thousand. 

Unemployment stabilized at 3.5%, beating estimates of 3.6%.

On trading, AUD/USD rose 1.3% as of 20:58 GMT to 0.6783. 

Sterling

The pound rose 0.3% against US dollar as of 20:58 GMT to 1.2522.

The gains came after data showed UK growth was flat last month, while analysts expected a 0.1% growth rate. 

Loonie

The Canadian dollar rose 0.7% against its US counterpart as of 20:59 GMT to 0.7496. 

US Dollar

The dollar index fell 0.5% as of 20:42 GMT to 101.01, with a session-high at 101.6, and a low at 100.8. 

Data

Earlier data showed US producer prices rose 2.7% in March, missing estimates of 3.0% increase, and down from 4.9% in the previous reading.

Core prices, excluding food and energy, rose 3.4% as expected, below the previous reading's 4.8% increase.

US unemployment claims rose to 239 thousand in the week ending April 8 from 228 thousand in the previous reading, missing estimates of 233 thousand.

While inflation remains much higher than the 2% target, it shows signals of slowdown in the past few months.

And following nine Federal Reserve rate hikes last year, the bank is now expected to slow down the pace of policy tightening considerably.