The Australian dollar edged 0.1 percent lower on the day to $1.0682, some distance away from this week's peak of $1.0777 hit on Wednesday. It had been as high as $1.0740 after employment jumped past all expectations in January, shoving the jobless rate to a six-month low of 5.1 percent. But talk of another delay in cementing a crucial bailout for Greece weighed on risk sentiment, underscoring just how far Europe is from solving its debt crisis. "It clearly reflects weakness in the equities market in the region and some softness in risk appetite probably associated with ongoing fears around the Greek issue," said Greg Gibbs, a currency strategist at RBS. Still, the strong jobs reading prompted investors to pare back expectations for a cut in interest rates with interbank futures widening the odds of a move in March. A cut is now fully priced for May, rather than April. The Aussie has been a stellar performer, displaying close to a 5 percent rise so far this year. It scaled a six-month peak of $1.0850 just last week. Yet, it's been recently trapped in a consolidative channel and a break of $1.0629, Tuesday's lows, would suggest the uptrend since December is over. Charts suggest a move as deep as $1.0470, the 38.2 percent retracement of the Dec-Feb rise. But the Aussie advanced on a broadly weaker euro, which slipped to a three-week trough on the US dollar. The single currency edged closer to a record low of A$1.2124 hit earlier this month and last stood at A$1.2185. However, it managed to nudge up to NZ$1.5728 against the kiwi, having hit an all-time trough since the single currency was launched in 1999 of NZ$1.5575 on Wednesday. NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR The New Zealand dollar was thumped by the twin forces of Australia's strong jobs data and the broader market nervousness about the Greek bailout package. The kiwi fell to a session low of $0.8260 from its New York close around $0.8340. It trimmed some of its losses but last traded at $0.8270, still 0.6 percent lower on the day. "It trickled lower through the afternoon, which reflected aggressive kiwi selling against the Aussie after the jobs data," said BNZ currency strategist Mike Jones. The currency hit a five month high of $0.8422 on Wednesday, its strongest since early September, but has been unable to sustain any move above $0.8400 this month. "It adds weight to the view that the kiwi is overstretched against the US dollar, and markets are also paying more attention to the differing fundamentals between Australia and New Zealand," Jones said. The Aussie bounded more than half a cent higher against the kiwi, with the cross rate last trading around NZ$1.2908 , up 0.7 percent on the day as markets pared back chances of a rate cut in Australia. Near term against the US dollar, the kiwi is seen strongly supported at $0.8250, the bottom end of the up channel, a breach of which would open the way for a much larger correction. Topside is still protected around $0.8400/10. The Antipodeans unable to sustain large gains on the yen after a surprising easing by the Bank of Japan earlier in the week. The Aussie last at 83.80 yen, having jumped to a five-month peak of 84.59 on Wednesday. The kiwi fared much worse at 63.49 yen, well off a peak of 66.11 yen, its strongest in more than six months. A raft of unremarkable data from manufacturing activity to consumer sentiment, along with an updated outlook from the government and a further fall in prices in dairy giant Fonterra's latest auction, did the kiwi no favours. New Zealand government bond prices edged up, pushing yields a couple of ticks lower across the curve. Australian debt futures gained with the three-year contract adding 0.04 points to 96.450 and the 10-year contract 0.095 points higher at 96.010.