The Australian and New Zealand dollars surrendered a little of their recent gains on Thursday as Sino-US trade talks ended without any clarity on when, or whether, a deal might be struck. China's commerce ministry said on Thursday the talks were extensive and detailed, but declined to provide any of those details.
In any case, the meetings were not at a ministerial level, so were never intended to produce a deal despite the markets' fervent hopes for a speedy resolution. The Aussie dollar faded back to $0.7158 after topping out at $0.7194 overnight, just short of chart resistance at $0.7200. It now has support around $0.7150.
The kiwi dipped to $0.6773, from a three-week top of $0.6817, but has support at $0.6765. Both currencies were still benefiting from a change in policy track by the US Federal Reserve, which had undermined one of the main props for the US dollar.
Three-year Australian bond futures firmed three ticks to 98.220, implying an yield of 1.78 percent. As recently as September, the implied yield had been up at 2.225 percent. The 10-year bond contract rose 3.5 ticks to 97.7050. New Zealand government bonds also rallied, with yields down around 7 basis points at the longer end of the curve. Presidents of four of the 12 Fed regional banks on Wednesday said they wanted greater clarity on the state of the economy before raising rates further.