SYDNEY/WELLINGTON: The Australian and New Zealand dollars rallied on Thursday as an easing in trade tensions between the United States and European Union sparked a revival in risk appetite, at least until the next negative news headline came along.

The Aussie dollar had clambered up to $0.7443, from a low of $0.7392 on Wednesday, but met stiff resistance around $0.7465. It also faces a daunting chart barrier at $0.7484 which marks a double top from earlier in the month.

The New Zealand dollar was up at $0.6837, from Wednesday’s trough of $0.6786, but again faced stiff resistance in the $0.6850/60 area.

The gains came after talks between President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker led to an apparent ceasefire in trade hostilities.

The general easing in risk aversion trimmed prices for New Zealand government bonds, sending yields 2 basis points higher towards the long end of the curve.

Australian three-year bond futures were half a tick firmer at 97.870, while the 10-year contract fell 1.5 ticks to 97.3050.

In what the EU chief called a “major concession,” Trump agreed to refrain from imposing car tariffs while the two sides launch negotiations to cut other trade barriers.

“Their comments suggested the two trading blocs will be more jaw-jaw than war-war,” wrote ANZ analysts in a note.

“The US dollar weakened broadly as better sentiment helped emerging markets and commodity currencies outperform.”—Reuters