SYDNEY: The Australian and New Zealand dollars nursed painful losses on Wednesday as investors abandoned bets on higher interest rates domestically, while tighter coronavirus lockdowns in Europe pushed bond yields down globally.

The Aussie was looking shaky at $0.7609, having skidded 1.5% overnight to test the 100-day moving average at $0.7608. A break here would likely see a pullback to the February trough of $0.7564.

The kiwi dollar was hammered to $0.6995, after shedding 2.3% on Tuesday in its biggest loss in a year.

Yields on five-year paper fell a steep 9 basis points to a one-month low of 0.955%, while 10-year yields dived 22 basis points to 1.56%.