SYDNEY: The Australian and New Zealand dollars were mostly steady ahead of US payrolls on Friday, with much of their hefty gains this week dependant on whether the data can alleviate economic concerns in the US amid an uncertain tariff rollout.
The Aussie slipped 0.2% to $0.6320, having been mostly flat overnight.
It is set for a weekly gain of 1.8%, with resistance at the 2025 high of $0.6408 and support around 63 cents.
The kiwi dollar was flat at $0.5735, after eking out a small gain of 0.1% overnight to as high as $0.5760.
It is up 2.4% for the week to be within a whisker of the 2025 top of $0.5771.
Australia, NZ dollars skid as tariff worries weigh, China stimulus fails to impress
In the broader market, Wall Street tumbled as investors sought the safety of the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc amid the back and forth of President Donald Trump’s tariff rollout.
Trump on Thursday exempted goods from Canada and Mexico under a North American trade pact for a month from the 25% tariffs that he had imposed just two days ago.
“This major temporary policy reversal highlights the extreme uncertainty about US policymaking. As a consequence, the outlook for the US and global economies are unusually uncertain,” said Kristina Clifton, an economist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
“AUD/USD will be driven by the USD reaction to non-farm payrolls tonight. Headlines around tariffs and Chinese economic stimulus can also impact on AUD/USD.”
Forecasts are for a rise of 160,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.0%.
As for the kiwi dollar, David Croy, a senior strategist at ANZ, said he was growing less bearish on the currency, but near-term downside risks remain and it could fall to $0.55 by mid-year.
Local bonds, however, have had a bad week as government borrowing costs rose across the globe on Germany’s historic shift to higher spending.
Yields on German 10-year government bonds surged 50 basis points this week, the biggest weekly gain since 1990.
Australia’s 10-year government bond yields rose 12 basis points to 4.423%, while the equivalent for New Zealand jumped 19 bps to 4.723%.
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