The Australian and New Zealand dollars held near five-month peaks on Monday as hopes for progress in the Sino-US trade standoff lifted risk assets and commodity prices.
The Aussie stood at $0.6986, having climbed 1.1% last week to approach the $0.7000 level for the first time since July. It was still down about 0.9% on the year so far, but well up from a decade low of $0.6670 touched in October.
The currency also cleared a major technical barrier by breaking and holding above the 200-day moving average of $0.6900 for six straight sessions, the longest such stretch since early 2018.
The kiwi dollar was firm at $0.6710, having topped 67 cents for the first time since July. That left it almost back where it started the year, having been as low as $0.6204 at one stage in October.
The currency has been on a roll in recent weeks as domestic economic data proved surprisingly upbeat and investors scaled back expectations for more rate cuts from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ).
Markets imply only a minor chance of a move from 1% at the next policy meeting in February and have just 8 basis points of easing priced in for the entire year.
The run of data has not been nearly as favourable in Australia, with consumer spending particularly disappointing despite tax breaks and rising home values.
Futures thus imply around a 32% chance of a quarter-point cut in the 0.75% cash rate from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) at its next policy meeting in February, and have 21 basis points of easing priced in for 2020.
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