The Australian dollar fell from parity with its US counterpart today as the unemployment rate increased, even though it was supposed to fall. The Aussie extended its gains against the euro. The Australian employers added 29,700 jobs in October, following the 49,600 increase in September. That was better than the expected 20,200 employment change. The better-than-expected employment change hasn’t helped to decrease the unemployment rate, though, which was at 5.4 percent last month. The Australian unemployment rate was at 5.1 percent in September and was expected to go down to 5.0 percent in October. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped as much as 0.8 percent, decreasing demand for the riskier assets. The futures for crude oil reached the highest level in two year of $88.63 per barrel, supporting the Aussie somewhat. AUD/USD dropped from 1.0052 to 0.9976 today as of 20:36 GMT. EUR/AUD went down from 1.3709 to 1.3688 after it rose to the intraday high of 1.3776. If you want to comment on the Australian dollar’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.

The Japanese yen rose today, before returning to the opening level, on the speculation that the accelerating inflation in China would prompt the government to take steps to cool the economy.

The consumer prices in China grew 4 percent in October, the biggest advance since October 2008, following the 3.6 percent increase in September. The rapidly growing prices and the increasing trade surplus caused concerns among the Chinese policy makers about the possible asset bubble. The concerns caused the People’s Bank of China to increase the reserve requirements for the lenders by 50 basis points from November 16th.

The yen slumped yesterday heavily and unexpectedly. This may be partly because of yesterday’s rally of the dollar, which made more attractive than yen in the role of the safe haven.

USD/JPY traded at about 82.14 as of 2:07 GMT after rising yesterday from 81.68 to 82.26. EUR/JPY traded near its opening level of 113.39 after it jumped yesterday from 112.50 to 113.38. GBP/JPY traded at 132.75, following the advance of the previous session from 130.56 to 132.26.

If you want to comment on the Japanese yen’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.