The Australian and New Zealand dollars were firm on Wednesday near recent peaks but struggled to tear higher as buyers, wary of stretching a recent rally too far, took a breather. The Australian dollar was strong at $0.9850, up from around $0.9800 seen late on Tuesday, but some way off a 28-year high of $0.9918 hit last week.
The New Zealand dollar fared better and rose as far as $0.7581, from Tuesday's $0.7490. The New Zealand dollar's outperformance pulled the Aussie down to NZ$1.3018, from NZ$1.3039 earlier in the day.