Australian Dollar Rises After Jobless Rate Holds at 5.3%

Australia’s dollar rose as a government report showed full-time jobs rose a seventh month in March, adding to the case for policy makers to extend the steepest interest-rate increases since 2000.

The gain in Aussie dollar was short lived as concern Greece may default on its debt damped investors’ appetite for riskier assets. The Reserve Bank of Australia raised benchmark borrowing costs on April 6 for the fifth time in six meetings and swaps traders are betting that 1 percentage point of further increases is likely over 12 months, according to a Credit Suisse AG index.