The Australian and New Zealand dollars held near multi-week highs on Friday as optimism on global growth supported risk appetites and commodity prices.The Aussie dollar was parked at $0.7848, having touched an 11-week peak of $0.7870. Traders still reported stiff resistance at $0.7884 and $0.7898, which were both tops back in October.
The Aussie took a small knock when data showed the country's recorded a trade deficit of A$628 million ($492.73 million) in November, confounding expectations of a surplus. The New Zealand dollar had no data to worry about and hung onto all its gains on a broadly softer US currency. It was last at $0.7150, just off an 11-week top of $0.7163.
The kiwi next faces chart resistance at $0.7217, a peak from mid-October. New Zealand government bonds firmed in price, pushing yields down 5 basis points at the long end of the curve. Australian government bond futures also gained, with the three-year bond contract up 2 ticks at 97.875. The 10-year contract rose 3 ticks to 97.3450.
However, analysts cautioned the figures did not fully reflect a sharp increase in spot iron ore prices seen during November. The statistics bureau assumes a price until it gets the true figures from miners which can take a number of months.
That suggests exports will be revised higher in time, particularly as iron ore is Australia's single biggest earner bringing in around A$7 billion ($5.49 billion) a month. Prices have climbed from a low of $58.62 at the start of November to $74.61 this week, a rise of 27 percent. That swing alone would be worth around A$1.9 billion a month in extra export revenue.
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