By Cecile Lefort and Rebecca Howard
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The Australian and New Zealand dollars fell on Thursday, as U.S. dollar bulls cheered the Federal Reserve's decision to finally raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade.
The Australian dollar AUD=D4 dropped 0.7 percent on the day to $0.7177, pulling closer to a recent trough of $0.7160 touched twice last week. A break below would test $0.7080.
"Rising U.S. interest rates will help maintain downward pressure on the value of the A$ through 2016," said Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital, seeing the Aussie around 60 U.S. cents in the next 12 months.
The Aussie has already shed 12 percent this year.
Undermining the Aussie was the Fed's rate forecasts, which came in a little higher than many expected, with around 100 basis points of hikes pencilled in for next year.
Across the Ditch, the New Zealand dollar NZD=D4 skidded nearly 1 percent on the day to $0.6734, after rising to a seven-week high of $0.6835 the day before.
The currency received a brief boost after GDP data came in slightly better than expected, adding to a growing conviction that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will stay sidelined for much of next year as it gauges the impact of past rate cuts.
But the kiwi was unable to sustain the gains due to broad strength in its U.S. counterpart.
New Zealand government bonds eased, sending yields 1.5 basis points higher.
Australian government bond futures fell, with the three-year bond contract off 2 ticks at 97.820. The 10-year contract fell 2.5 ticks to 97.0400, while the 20-year contract shed 3 ticks to 96.5400. (Editing by Jacqueline Wong)