Australian, New Zealand Dollars Climb On Improved Risk Sentiment

The Australian and New Zealand dollars advanced against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Thursday, as strong commodity prices and stimulus measures from China lifted riskier assets.

China's Cabinet, the State Council, unveiled 19 policy measures on Wednesday to shore up economic growth.

The 1 trillion yuan package is mainly focused on infrastructure projects.

Crude oil prices climbed amid a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week and on indications that OPEC could cut production to support prices.

Investors looked ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole economic symposium on Friday for clues on the path of future rate hikes.

The aussie was higher against the greenback and the loonie, hitting 8-day highs of 0.6983 and 0.9016, respectively. The aussie is poised to challenge resistance around 0.72 against the greenback and 0.92 against the loonie.

The aussie was up at a 4-week high of 95.31 against the yen. Against the kiwi, it touched 1.1193, its strongest level since October 2017. The aussie is seen finding resistance around 97.00 against the yen and 1.14 against the kiwi.

The aussie edged up to a session's high of 1.4359 against the euro, off a prior low of 1.4436. On the upside, 1.41 is possibly seen as its next resistance level.

The kiwi firmed to a 3-day high of 85.17 against the yen and a 2-day high of 0.6240 against the greenback, up from its early lows of 84.67 and 0.6176, respectively. The next possible resistance for the kiwi is seen around 87.00 against the yen and 0.64 against the greenback.

Against the euro, the kiwi rebounded to 1.6049, from a 3-day low of 1.6135 seen at 8:15 pm ET. If the kiwi rises further, it may find resistance around the 1.59 level.

Looking ahead, German Ifo business sentiment index for August will be released in the European session.

At 7.30 am ET, the European Central Bank releases the accounts of the monetary policy meeting of the governing council held on July 20 and 21.

Canada manufacturing sales for July and U.S. GDP data for the second quarter and weekly jobless claims for the week ended August 20 are due in the New York session.