WELLINGTON/SYDNEY: The Aussie and New Zealand dollars found a tentative footing on Tuesday, following recent steep declines, aided by a balanced sounding Reserve Bank of Australia and firmer stocks in Asia.
Aussie dollar nudges up to $0.9933, from $0.9888 in NY, having bounced from last week's lows around $0.9862. Still, it has lost more than 3 pct this month. Immediate resistance at $0.9969 with support at $0.9862.
It briefly gained 20 pips after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) didn't appear as dovish as some had expected in the minutes of the December meeting.
RBA said in a balanced statement the local economy and solid Asian growth didn't suggest a strong need to cut interest rates. It decided for a modest easing of 25 bps to 4.25 pct earlier this month due to increasing downside risks from Europe.
Interbank futures pricing imply another cut at the RBA's next meeting in February and a total easing of 117.5 bps by May.
Firmer Asian equities and local corporate AUD buying underpin the Aussie.
Australian bond futures run into profit taking having scaled fresh highs. Three-year debt contract down 0.03 points to 97.040 from a three-year peak of 97.090 and the 10-year contract steady at 96.230 from a record high of 96.265.
NZ dollar gains half a cent to $0.7583, off last week's lows of $0.7461. The 14-day moving average at $0.7671 could cap the topside while $0.7523 should provide support for the currency, which has fallen about 3.0 pct so far this month.
Kiwi not helped by two confidence surveys on Monday that point to a sluggish start next year, backing bets for rates to stay low for longer.
Markets pricing little changed, with 22 pct chance of a 25 bps rate cut in Jan, and 13 bps of cuts for next year.
NZ has Q3 current account on Wednesday and Q3 GDP data on Thursday. A Reuters poll forecasts a current account deficit of 3.9 pct of GDP and quarterly GDP growth of 0.6 pct.
Antipodeans crawl off three-week lows vs the yen, with Aussie at 78.03 yen and kiwi at 59.27 yen.
NZ government bonds firmer in the front end while softer in the long end. The 10-year yields edge up to 3.840 pct from an all-time low of 3.76 pct struck last Thursday.
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