WELLINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The Australian and New Zealand
dollars sat near two-week highs on Monday as dire U.S. jobs data
and talk of possible further quantitative easing saw broad-based
selling of the U.S. dollar.
* Australian dollar starts the week at around $0.9905/10 after it surged around 1.7 percent Friday from $0.9747 to as high as $0.9938.
* Aussie seen facing resistance at $0.9935/40 with support from $0.9885 below which $0.9820, the 20-day moving average.
* New Zealand dollar opens at $0.7650, having traded between $0.7545 and $0.7676 in Friday's offshore session.
* Support for the kiwi from $0.7630 with resistance at $0.7700.
* The euro rose 1.5 percent on Friday, bolstered by data which showed the U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected in November, with the jobless rate rising to 9.8 percent.
* U.S. dollar also suffered after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was reported to have said in an interview to be aired on CBS-TV on Sunday that markets should not dismiss the possibility of the central bank buying more than $600 billion in bonds to boost U.S. growth..
* That helped U.S. stocks post modest gains and lifted short-dated treasuries, while commodities leaped. The CRB index added 1.3 pct, while oil, gold and base metals all climbed.
* The strength in the Aussie pushed it to a three-week high of NZ$1.2950 on the cross rate.
* Key events this week are interest rate decisions in both Australia and New Zealand, with both central banks seen remaining on hold while eyeing rises in 2011.
* Other data includes Australian jobs on Thursday with expectations for 19,000 jobs being created and unemployment falling to 5.2 percent from 5.4 percent.. New Zealand has a sprinkling of second tier data, including electronic card retail sales and manufacturing sales.
* Monday sees release of Australian job advertisements and the TD-Mi inflation gauge for November.
* NZ govt debt prices higher, with yields dipping up to 2 basis points, as a rally in U.S. Treasuries ran out of steam.
* Australian bond futures lower, with the three-year contract down 0.01 points at 94.96, and 10-year futures off 0.020 points at 94.485.
((Australia/New Zealand bureaux; +61 2 9373 1800/+64 4 471 4234)) Keywords: MARKETS AUSTRALIA NEWZEALAND FOREX/BONDS (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
* Australian dollar starts the week at around $0.9905/10 after it surged around 1.7 percent Friday from $0.9747 to as high as $0.9938.
* Aussie seen facing resistance at $0.9935/40 with support from $0.9885 below which $0.9820, the 20-day moving average.
* New Zealand dollar opens at $0.7650, having traded between $0.7545 and $0.7676 in Friday's offshore session.
* Support for the kiwi from $0.7630 with resistance at $0.7700.
* The euro rose 1.5 percent on Friday, bolstered by data which showed the U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected in November, with the jobless rate rising to 9.8 percent.
* U.S. dollar also suffered after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was reported to have said in an interview to be aired on CBS-TV on Sunday that markets should not dismiss the possibility of the central bank buying more than $600 billion in bonds to boost U.S. growth..
* That helped U.S. stocks post modest gains and lifted short-dated treasuries, while commodities leaped. The CRB index added 1.3 pct, while oil, gold and base metals all climbed.
* The strength in the Aussie pushed it to a three-week high of NZ$1.2950 on the cross rate.
* Key events this week are interest rate decisions in both Australia and New Zealand, with both central banks seen remaining on hold while eyeing rises in 2011.
* Other data includes Australian jobs on Thursday with expectations for 19,000 jobs being created and unemployment falling to 5.2 percent from 5.4 percent.. New Zealand has a sprinkling of second tier data, including electronic card retail sales and manufacturing sales.
* Monday sees release of Australian job advertisements and the TD-Mi inflation gauge for November.
* NZ govt debt prices higher, with yields dipping up to 2 basis points, as a rally in U.S. Treasuries ran out of steam.
* Australian bond futures lower, with the three-year contract down 0.01 points at 94.96, and 10-year futures off 0.020 points at 94.485.
((Australia/New Zealand bureaux; +61 2 9373 1800/+64 4 471 4234)) Keywords: MARKETS AUSTRALIA NEWZEALAND FOREX/BONDS (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.