Australian, NZ Dollars Lower On Rising Risk Aversion

The Australian and NZ dollars fell against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Thursday, as most Asian stocks fell, led by a decline in Chinese shares on persistent fears over Beijing's crackdown on the private sector.

Traders await Jackson Hole symposium for more insights about the Fed's plan to scale back bond purchase program.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell will deliver a speech on Friday, which will be parsed over whether the delta threat may forbid an imminent tightening of policy.

A resurgence in Delta variant virus cases in several parts of the region clouded near term outlook.

Oil prices fell as coronavirus restrictions due to the spike in infections raised demand worries.

The aussie dropped to 79.78 against the yen, 1.6218 against the euro and 0.7252 against the greenback, off its early highs of 80.09 and 1.6168, and a session's high of 0.7280, respectively. The aussie may find support around 77.5 against the yen, 1.65 against the euro and 0.70 against the greenback.

The aussie pulled back to 1.0423 against the kiwi, following a high of 1.0444 hit at 8.15 pm ET. On the downside, 1.02 is possibly seen as its next support level. The aussie reached as low as 0.9147 against the loonie at 5:30 pm ET and was steady thereafter. The pair had closed Wednesday's deals at 0.9157.

The kiwi depreciated to 0.6951 against the greenback, 76.50 against the yen and 1.6921 against the euro, after rising to 0.6975, 76.73 and 1.6858, respectively in early deals. The kiwi is seen challenging support around 0.68 against the greenback, 74.5 against the yen and 1.71 against the euro.

Looking ahead, the European Central Bank publishes the account of the monetary policy meeting of the Governing Council held on July 21-22 at 7:30 am ET.

U.S. GDP data for second quarter and weekly jobless claims for the week ended August 21 will be released in the New York session.