Australian, New Zealand dollars see gains

The Australian and New Zealand dollars were both higher versus the US dollar and the euro on Friday as the aussie saw its second straight week of gains and the kiwi saw its third week of gains in a row.

A hike in interest rates to 7 percent helped the Australian dollar, while New Zealand’s currency gained on new data showing that the unemployment rate there dropped to 3.4 percent in the last quarter of 2007.

At around 11: 30 a.m. in New York, the Australian dollar stood at A$1.6139 to the euro and at A$1.1132 to the US dollar, while the New Zealand dollar traded at NZ$1.2652 to the US dollar and at NZ$1.8344 to the euro.

The euro declined in relation to the US dollar this week, hurt by comments from European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet that lead analysts and investors to believe that the ECB could cut interest rates soon.

In late morning trade in New York on Friday, the dollar was at $1.4498 to the euro, while the pound traded at 74.50p to the shared currency and the yen stood at ¥155.8463 to the euro.

The Canadian dollar was higher versus all major currencies on Friday after new data showed that more jobs were created there in January than had been anticipated.

At just past 11 a.m. in New York the US dollar traded at $1.0036 to the Canadian dollar.

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