The Australian and New Zealand dollars were under pressure on Tuesday as the Reserve Bank of Australia confirmed it would consider cutting rates in May, while concerns over Spain's finances continued to simmer. The Aussie dipped to $1.0315, from $1.0381 in New York, within sight of Monday's lows of $1.0311 and major technical support.
It gradually lost ground after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) repeated in the minutes of its April policy meeting that it could consider cutting rates in May if inflation data, due out next week, proved benign. Both the Aussie and kiwi lost further ground against the safe-haven yen, having slipped 1 percent on Monday. The Australian dollar eased to 82.93 yen, well off a peak of 84.80 last week, while the kiwi fell 0.5 percent to 65.55 yen. It hit a high of 67.48 on Friday. The New Zealand dollar languished a near one-week low of $0.8153, against a New York close of $0.8206.