Australian, NZ Dollars Drop Against Majors

The Australian and NZ dollars slipped against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Friday, as concerns about a liquidity squeeze in China and the U.S. trading platform restrictions weighed on sentiment.

The People's Bank of China has reportedly injected 100 billion yuan into the financial system on Friday.

Robinhood said it would allow trades of GameStop and other volatile companies after restricting buying of shares on Thursday.

The restrictions from brokerages to halt users from purchasing shares of certain companies caused an uproar in the financial markets.

In economic news, the Reserve Bank of Australia said that private sector credit in Australia rose 0.3 percent on month in December, accelerating from the 0.1 percent gain in November.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said final demand producer prices were up 0.5 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2020, following the 0.4 percent gain in the previous three months.

The kiwi retreated to 0.7151 against the greenback, 74.71 against the yen and 1.6916 against the euro, reversing from its early high of 0.7179, 2-day highs of 75.03 and 1.6866, respectively. The kiwi is seen finding support around 0.70 against the greenback, 75.03 against the yen and 1.72 against the euro.

The aussie depreciated to 0.7637 against the greenback and 79.81 against the yen, down from its prior highs of 0.7683 and 80.23, respectively. The aussie may locate support around 0.75 against the greenback and 78.00 against the yen.

The aussie weakened to 1.5840 against the euro and 1.0676 against the kiwi, off its early highs of 1.5767 and 1.0708, respectively. The next immediate support for the aussie is seen around 1.62 against the euro and 1.045 against the kiwi.

In contrast, the aussie climbed to 0.9854 against the loonie, its highest level since January 13. If the currency rises further, 1.00 is possibly seen as its next resistance level.

Looking ahead, German jobless rate for January will be featured in the European session.

In the New York session, Canada GDP data for November and industrial product price index for December, as well as University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment index for January and U.S. personal income and spending data and pending home sales for December are due out.