SYDNEY: The Australian and New Zealand dollars paused near multi-month highs on Thursday as a reliably dovish outlook from the Federal Reserve kept their US counterpart under pressure, bringing major bull targets temptingly close.
The Aussie stood at $0.7178 having touched a fresh 15-month top overnight at $0.7197. That left it within spitting distance of $0.7206/07 a double top from February and April last year. Past that, the next chart targets are $0.7296 and $0.7394.
The kiwi dollar steadied at $0.6651, after hitting a seven-month peak of $0.6702. Again it was within striking distance of major barriers at $0.6755 and $0.6789, tops from December and July last year.
Australia's 10-year bond futures rise a tick to 99.1150, well up on the week's trough of 99.0400. Debt dealers were still celebrating the successful sale of A$15 billion ($10.76 billion) in new 30-year government bonds this week which drew bids worth A$36 billion.
Almost 77% of the offer went to offshore investors, twice the usual average.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell left the door wide open to further stimulus on Wednesday as he warned a surge in cases of the novel coronavirus was weighing on economic activity.
Central banks in Australia and New Zealand are expected to stay on hold for months to come, if not the rest of the year.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) meets next week and is considered certain to keep rates at 0.25%, though it will likely express concern at an outbreak of coronavirus in Victoria state that has locked down the city of Melbourne.
Data out on Thursday underlined the damage already done to the housing market with approvals to build new homes falling 4.9% to an eight-year low, pointing to a sharp slow-down ahead.
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