Jobs in Australia see surprise slide, Aussie $ follows

[SYDNEY] Australian employers shed jobs at the fastest pace in nine months in December while full-time positions suffered their biggest drop since mid-2011 - an unlooked-for blow that hammered the A$ to its lowest in over three years.

Investors reacted by reviving the prospect of another cut in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), which has been signalling it would rather not ease again from the current record low of 2.5 per cent. Market odds on a move by June narrowed to near one-in-two, from one- in-four ahead of the jobs figures.

In a report littered with unwelcome milestones, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found employment fell by 22,600 in December, confounding forecasts for a modest rise of 7,500. Full-time jobs fared even worse by diving 31,600.