The Australian and New Zealand dollars rallied on Monday on talk of a bulky International Monetary Fund rescue package for Italy, though markets remained doubtful given a lack of official announcement. The Aussie dollar last stood at $0.9836, up 1.3 percent from $0.9712 in New York, its biggest single-day rise in a month. It touched a one-week high of $0.9888, when a wave of stops was triggered above $0.9800.
The Antipodeans also received a lift from solid gains in Korean, Japanese and Australian stocks as well as a 3-percent jump in copper, its biggest single-day jump in a month. The kiwi dollar leapt to one-week highs of $0.7555, before giving back some ground to last stand at $0.7512. It was still well up from its New York close at $0.7400. The Antipodeans also made strong gains on safe-haven yen and euro. The Aussie jumped to a one-week peak at 76.40 yen, off a seven-week low of 74.72 hit last week. The kiwi climbed to 58.32 yen, off a seven-month trough just below 54 yen.