New Zealand and Australian dollars take breather

The New Zealand and Australian dollars marked time following recent hefty gains on Friday, as investors pared long positions on fears about Europe and US debt crises. The Aussie edged back to $1.0980, 0.2 percent on the day, after hitting a trough of $1.0963 on profit-taking, though it was still up 1.3 percent for the week.
Still, the Aussie was one of the best performing currencies this week, second to the safe-haven Swiss franc. The pound took a particularly nasty spill on the local dollar this week, diving as far as a 26-year trough of A$1.4750. Across the Tasman sea, the NZ dollar also pared some of its recent gains to stand at $0.8666, from $0.8695 in New York, having hit an early high of $0.8711.