SYDNEY: The Australian and New Zealand dollars were higher against the greenback on Monday, buoyed by better than expected Chinese retail sales and industrial output data and weakness in their US counterpart. The Aussie was up 0.19% at $0.7344, the highest since Nov. 10, taking back some of the lost ground last week but still far from its recent peak of $0.7555 of Oct. 28.

The kiwi dollar was similarly up 0.13% at $0.7050 after shedding 1.5% last week. The currency faces immediate resistance at the $0.7176 level and support around $0.6996. The risk-sensitive currencies had been hit by concerns about slowdown in China, their biggest export market, and by strength in the US dollar, which had benefited from bets of earlier than expected rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.