WELLINGTON/SYDNEY: The Australian and New Zealand dollars held firm on Friday, having bounced off one-week lows as positive US data lifted sentiment, although the euro zone debt worries were little eased by an Italian debt auction.
* The Aussie sits around $1.0142 compared with $1.0091 in late local trading on Thursday. It touched a low of $1.0048 overnight. Near-term support is seen around $1.0105, with initial resistance at $1.0155 ahead of $1.0192.
* The kiwi dollar at $0.7710, up from $0.7695 late Thursday. It dipped to an offshore low of $0.7655. Seen supported at $0.7654, the previous day's low, with the 50-day moving average of $0.7750 to limit the topside.
* The euro bounces off a 15-month low against the US dollar, but a key Italian debt auction does little to ease concerns about the euro-zone debt crisis, which is seen rumbling on through 2012 and weighing on the single currency.
* Italy sells about 7 bln euros in bonds, below its target of 8.5 bln euros. Yields on the 10-year paper fall from record highs seen last month, but remain near 7 pct - a level seen as unsustainable for a country needing to raise 450 bln euros through debt issuance in 2012.
* Demand for riskier investments such as stocks improved after data show pending sales of existing US homes surged to a 1-1/2-year high in November.
* Another index showed factory activity in the US Midwest grew more than expected in December, and a third report suggests US labor market still recovering.
* The Pacific pair remain on the back foot against the yen, the Aussie fractionally higher at 78.72 and kiwi becalmed around 59.87.
* The euro gives ground to the Antipodeans, standing 0.3 percent lower at A$1.2778, not far off a record low of A$1.2763. Against the kiwi, it is at NZ$1.6798, near a four-month low of NZ$1.6747 on Wednesday.
* The Aussie and New Zealand dollars look set to end the year in much the same position as they started, but that masks wild swings -- both traded 17 cent ranges against the greenback -- through the year driven by the euro zone fiscal crisis, as they were taken as proxies for risk sentiment.
* Aussie debt futures a touch firmer, with the three-year contract gaining 0.03 points to 96.930, and the 10-year contract puts on 0.025 points to 96.270.
* NZ government debt with slight bid tone, sending yields a couple of ticks lower.
* Australia and New Zealand markets will shut early on Friday. Australia reopens Jan 3, NZ Jan 4.
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