Australia dollar bulls bank their gains, await clarity on Ukraine

SYDNEY: The Australian and New Zealand dollars paused to digest a month’s worth of hefty gains on Wednesday as markets waited to see if Russian talk of de-escalating its military operation in Ukraine actually bore fruit.

The news did give a lift to risk sentiment, but also put downward pressure on energy prices, making it a double-edged sword for the resource-heavy currencies.

For now, investors were content to bank the Aussie’s recent gains which have seen it reach five-month highs on the US dollar, a five-year peak on the euro and a seven-year peak on the yen.

The Aussie was steady at $0.7510, after topping out at $0.7540 earlier in the week and just short of is high from last October at $0.7555. Support comes in at $0.7450.

The kiwi dollar edged up to $0.6950, having bounced from support around $0.6876 overnight. Resistance lies at the recent top of $0.6988 and the major $0.7000 barrier.