Australian and New Zealand dollars pause

The Australian and New Zealand dollars took a breather against their US counterpart on Tuesday, while the euro survived a ratings downgrade of France with sentiment bolstered by hopes of a Greek aid deal later in the session. The Aussie was steady at $1.0413, having gained 1.3 percent since hitting a three-week trough of $1.0287 Friday.
It fully recovered from a brief dip to $1.0398 after minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) November meeting showed the bank was still open to rate cuts. The New Zealand dollar consolidated at $0.8190, just below a one-week high of $0.8204 touched overnight. The euro initially fell across the board, sliding 50 pips to A$1.2253 before it bounced back to where it started the session at A$1.2293. Against the kiwi, the euro dipped to a session low of NZ$1.5573 before recovering to last trade at NZ$1.5638.