The Australian and New Zealand dollars marked time on Monday as worries about global growth kept a lid on further gains after a bounce from seven-year lows last week. The Australian dollar held steady at $0.7002, which compares with a peak of $0.7046 on Friday as resistance proved stiff around $0.7050. It rose 2 percent last week, its biggest such gain since October.
Against the yen, the Aussie held at 83.16, having leapt 3.4 percent last week after it touched its lowest since mid-2012 on Wednesday.
Last week's rally came after a bounce in oil prices and expectations of further policy easing in some parts of the world sharpened appetites for risky assets.
While global equities markets extended rallies, foreign exchange markets proved a bit more cautious. Data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed speculators increased their short Aussie positions to 81,738 contracts the week ending January 19.
ANZ said the Aussie experienced net selling of $0.9 billion to take its overall net short position to $1.9 billion.
Dealers said markets still expected more bad news to come, particularly on the commodity and China fronts.
The Australian dollar is often used as a proxy for China plays.
Financial markets imply an 80 percent chance of a rate cut in Australia to a record low of 1.75 percent by May, with markets worried about the state of the Chinese economy and growth prospects in Europe and Japan.
Across the Tasman sea, the New Zealand dollar was steady at $0.6492 as markets looked ahead to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's rate decision on Thursday.
The central bank is widely expected to keep rates on hold but most economists are expecting the tone of the statement to point to more rate cuts ahead.
Trading was quiet with the capital city of Wellington on holiday.
New Zealand government bonds gained slightly, with yields 1 basis point lower across most of the curve.
Australian government bond futures were trading a tad softer, with the three-year bond contract off 1 tick at 98.060. The 10-year contract eased half a tick to 97.2650, while the 20-year contract edged down 1 tick to 96.7600.
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