By SYDNEY, Feb 10 Reuters The Australian and New Zealand dollars consolidated recent gains on Wednesday, as a run of upbeat domestic data kept bond yields elevated, while optimism on the global outlook weighed on the U.S. dollar.
The Aussie was just off a twoweek top at 0.7730, well up from recent troughs at 0.7564 and 0.7583. It now faces resistance around 0.7785 and 0.7819.
The kiwi dollar paused at 0.7229, having enjoyed a solid bounce from last weeks low of 0.7136. Resistance lies around 0.7255 and 0.7314.
At home, a survey of Australian consumer sentiment showed a bounce in February, after a setback in January when partial lockdowns in some cities spooked households.
Bank data on card spending suggests consumers had still been busy shopping in January, with NAB estimating retail sales could have climbed 1.5 compared to December.
It is fair to say that these results further underline our view that the Australian economy starts 2021 in an enviably strong position, particularly given global events, said NAB chief economist, Alan Oster.
The Reserve Bank of Australia RBA wants the outperformance to continue having just projected no rate hikes until 2024 at the earliest.
Threeyear yields are pinned at 0.12 while 10year yields stood at 1.22, keeping the yield curve step at 110 basis points.
In New Zealand markets, a run of strong economic data and a boom in housing have seen a move to price in rate hikes from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand RBNZ as early as 2022….
