SYDNEY: The Australian and New Zealand dollars held steady on Thursday as solid domestic data helped offset a broad bounce in the US dollar, while lofty local yields lifted the Aussie to a two-year peak on the euro.

The Aussie had levelled out at $0.7761 having found support around $0.7725, but remains short of the week’s top of $0.7805. It still needs to clear major resistance at the January top of $0.7819 to get the rally moving again.

The kiwi dollar lagged a little at $0.7193, after failing to sustain a five-week high of $0.7269. Support lies at $0.7159 and $0.7136.

Yields on 10-year paper hit an 11-month top of 1.419% on Wednesday, having surged 20 basis points this week. The 10-year futures contract was a shade firmer at 98.6250 on Thursday, but still implied a 10-basis-point spread over US yields.

The outsized rise in Australian yields might be one reason the Aussie has been flying on the crosses, hitting two-year highs on both the euro and the yen.—Reuters