AUD/USD holds below 0.6150 on bullish US Dollar, stronger US NFP report

• AUD/USD softens to near 0.6145 in Monday's early Asian session.
• The US Nonfarm Payrolls grew by 256K in December; Unemployment Rate fell to 4.1%. 
• The concerns about China's economic downturn weigh on the Aussie. 

The AUD/USD pair remains on the defensive around 0.6145 during the early Asian session on Monday. The US job growth came in stronger than expected in December, supporting the US Dollar (USD) broadly.

Data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday showed that the Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) rose by 256K in December, compared to a 212K increase (revised from 227K) seen in November. This reading surpassed the market expectation of 160K by a wide margin. 

Meanwhile, the Unemployment Rate ticked lower to 4.1% in December from 4.2% in November. Finally, annual wage inflation, as measured by the change in the Average Hourly Earnings, dropped to 3.9% in December from 4% in the previous reading.

The upbeat US labor market data for December is likely to convince the US Federal Reserve (Fed) to keep interest rates unchanged this month, which underpins the Greenback against the Australian Dollar (AUD). According to the CME FedWatch tool, financial markets expect the US central bank to keep its benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged in the 4.25%-4.50% range at its January 28-29 meeting. "It would take a very bad set of jobs reports to get the Fed easing again by March, and, so, we now see the next cut in June followed by a final one in September," said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan.

 On the other hand, the Aussie remains under selling pressure against the USD, lowest level since April 2020. The slower growth and deflationary risks in China continue to undermine the China-proxy AUD. The Citi economists said that the final quarter of last year was expected to be the seventh in a row in which China's GDP deflator was negative.