New Zealand Dollar Falls as Q3 Unemployment Rises to 5.7%

The New Zealand dollar slipped toward $0.56, stabilizing near 0.5592, after third-quarter unemployment rose to an 11-year high of 5.7%, exceeding forecasts of 5.5%. Employment unexpectedly contracted by 0.1% quarter-on-quarter against expectations of a 0.4% gain, while full-time jobs fell by 17,000 and actual hours worked declined 1.6%. The labour force participation rate dropped to 70.4%, and private sector wage growth slowed to 2.0% year-on-year. The weakening data prompted two-year swap yields to drop about 6 basis points to 3.7815% as markets pared expectations for a December RBNZ rate hike.