The Australian and New Zealand dollars were heading for a weekly loss on Friday as the economic damage wrought globally by the coronavirus kept risk assets under pressure, while bond yields held near record lows despite massive borrowing plans.
The Aussie was stuck at $0.6063, having lost 1.7% for the week so far. While sizable, the fall followed a jump of 6.2% last week and a slide of 6.1% the week before.
Resistance now lies at the recent top of $0.6215, with support around $0.6000. The Kiwi dollar stood at $0.5908, having shed 2.2% for the week. Support lies at $0.5880 and resistance at $0.6067. Both countries have open economies leveraged to commodities and international trade, leaving them highly vulnerable to the global shutdowns caused by the pandemic.
Yields on three-year paper fell to all-time lows around 0.22% this week and were last at 0.248%. Yields on 10-year debt dropped to 0.778%, narrowing the spread to 53 basis points from 63 basis points a week before. Three-year bond futures edged up 1 tick on Friday to 99.780, implying an yield of 0.22%.