The Australian and New Zealand dollars jumped 1 percent against the yen on Tuesday and bounced off multi-month lows versus their US counterpart, with investors still wary over excessive volatility in Japanese stocks and the US dollar.
The Aussie dollar gained a full yen to 98.18 yen having bounced from two-month lows on Monday. The Aussie was dragged higher by a broadly weaker yen following a week of excessive volatility in Japanese stocks. The New Zealand dollar leapt to 82.32 yen, from a trough of 81.29 on Monday with support found just above 81 yen. Against the US dollar, both Aussie and kiwi dollars held steady on the day, having recovered from earlier dips.
The Aussie fetched $0.9641, from $0.9635 in early trade, having recouped from a session trough of $0.9597. Still, it remained close to an 11-month trough of $0.9593 set last week. The New Zealand dollar kept steady at $0.8087, having managed to stay above an 8-1/2-month low of $0.8006 hit last week. So far this month, the kiwi has lost nearly 6 percent, its worst performance in a year. Further losses looked contained by support at $0.8066, the 50 percent retracement of its June 2012-April 2013 rally.