SYDNEY/WELLINGTON: The Australian dollar slipped on Friday and was on track for a small weekly loss led by a pull-back in global risk sentiment and on comments by the country's top central banker that interest rates will stay low for a long time to come.
The Australian dollar was last at $0.7595 after going as high as $0.7648 on Thursday.
The kiwi dollar too was off slightly at $0.7148 after rising to $0.7225 the previous day.
The antipodean currencies are looking at weekly losses.
The Aussie is so far down 0.6% this week while the kiwi has lost 0.5% of its value.
Bond futures rallied on Friday, with the 10-year contract up 3 ticks at 98.795.
Yields on New Zealand 10-year bonds have shot to their highest since the market mayhem of last March at 1.41%, having climbed almost 25 basis points in just a week.
Yields have been on the rise since the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) trimmed the amount of bonds it would buy this week, and took off on Wednesday when local jobs data proved far stronger than forecast.
On Friday, New Zealand government bonds were little change with yields up half a basis point across the curve.
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