ENM: Australian, New Zealand dollars under pressure as Greek jitters persist
WELLINGTON/SYDNEY: The Australian and New Zealand dollars struggled to pull away from a three-week trough against the greenback on Friday as ongoing uncertainty over Greece and weakness in Asian equities kept investors cautious.
The Australian dollar fell 0.5 percent on the day to $1.0510, and looked set to retest a three-week low around $1.0480 plumbed on Thursday. It was little changed on the week.
Technically, the break of $1.0520 is bearish for a test of $1.0440, the May 25 low.
"You're also seeing the euro and pound fall away as well, so there is a bit of movement towards yen and the U.S. dollar. It is a bit of a safe-haven flow," said Joseph Capurso, currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank.
Against the yen, the Aussie also fell 0.5 percent to 84.71 , nearing support just under 84.50 yen. The euro remained shaky after a roller-coaster ride on Thursday, and was seen remaining vulnerable to news on Greece's debt crisis.
The European Union's top economic official, Olli Rehn, said he expected the European Union and the IMF to release a crucial 12 billion euro loan tranche in early July to keep Athens afloat. But he added it would take longer to put together a second rescue package for Greece.
The Aussie slightly underperformed the kiwi, dipping below NZ$1.3100 from a one-week high around NZ$1.3170 reached on Thursday.
The NZ dollar shed 0.6 percent to $0.8021, not far off a three-week trough around $0.7973 plumbed overnight. On the week, the kiwi is down nearly 0.8 percent.
It is seen supported from $0.7995, with resistance starting at $0.8116. With markets still nervous, traders see little chance of a fresh assault on the 26-year high of $0.8301 set last week any time soon.
"The euro's been weak and that's still the major catalyst," said CBA's vice president of institutional banking and markets Tim Kelleher. "It's the whole Greece situation, it's not going away."
Domestic factors were also not too supportive for the kiwi. This week's strong tremors in quake-prone Christchurch have seen markets push out the next rate hike to January. Pricing of tightening over the next 12 months eases to 62 bps, from 75 bps before the hefty shakes.
Markets are uncertain whether the NZ$15 billion rebuilding of Christchurch can gather steam next year amid recurring strong aftershocks.
Australian interbank futures were a touch softer, after having risen strongly on Thursday to all but price out any chance of an RBA rate hike this year.
That is at odds with a warning from the head of the RBA that rates will likely have to rise at some point to contain inflationary pressures from a trade and mining boom.
Three-year Australian bond futures edged down 0.01 points to 95.300, while the 10-year contract eased 0.02 points to 94.895. Both contracts rallied more than 0.15 points on Thursday as worries about Greece spark flight to safety.
Next week's data calendar is light in Australia , with only minutes of RBA's June meeting, and a speech by RBA assistant governor Philip Lowe that are likely to garner some market attention.
In New Zealand, first quarter manufacturing and wholesale trade data, originally scheduled for release this week but were delayed by the earthquake, will be released on Monday.
The first-quarter current account is also due, which is likely to see a rare surplus because of insurance money coming into the economy to pay for February's earthquake damage.