By Swati Pandey and Charlotte Greenfield
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - The Australian dollar jumped the most in two weeks after the country's central bank left rates steady on Tuesday and refrained from including an explicit easing bias in its statement, as some had speculated.
The Australian dollar AUD=D4 climbed 0.6 percent to $0.7651, it's biggest rise since Oct.19 and its third consecutive day of gains.
The Reserve Bank of Australia held its cash rate at a record low of 1.5 percent on Tuesday, while sounding upbeat about the domestic as well as the Chinese economy. a more hawkish tone than the market had been anticipating. There is not much of a bias at all," said Su-Lin Ong, Senior Economist at RBC Capital Markets.
"We see rates on hold, though we still have a cut in the second quarter of 2017."
The Aussie also garnered support from surveys showing Chinese manufacturing activity hit a two-year high in October. That augured well for Chinese demand for Australia's resource exports. the Aussie faces stubborn chart resistance at $0.7700, a level it has breached repeatedly in recent months only to always retreat. As a result, this is its fifth week of trading in a rough $0.75-$0.77 cent band.
"We doubt this is the week the Aussie would break out of its range," said Matt Simpson, senior analyst at ThinkMarkets. He cited nervousness ahead of U.S. presidential elections next week as one of the reasons.
The New Zealand dollar NZD=D4 edged up slightly to $0.7166 but remained trapped in a $0.7110-$0.7175 band overall.
It could break the range on Wednesday when the government releases third-quarter figures on employment and wages.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has already flagged a likely cut in interest rates at its policy meeting next week, but any strength in jobs would further diminish the risk of easing beyond that.
New Zealand government bonds 0#NZTSY= were largely unchanged, with yields mostly flat but inching 1 basis point lower towards the short end of the curve.
Australian government bond futures eased, with the three-year bond contract YTTc1 down 3 ticks at 98.28. The 10-year contract YTCc1 slipped 3.5 ticks to 97.6400. (Editing by Shri Navaratnam)