By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The Australian and New Zealand dollars skidded on Tuesday on heightened nervousness as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump edged past Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in a nailbiting U.S. election battle.
The Australian dollar AUD=D4 broke below key chart resistance of 77 U.S. cents in early afternoon trading, after comfortably staying above that level for 3 straight days. It fell as much as 1.8 percent to hit a one-week low of $0.7614.
Markets favour Clinton who is seen as the status quo candidate while there is a high degree of uncertainty about Trump's policies on geopolitics, trade and immigration which could discourage the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates in December.
As of 0410 GMT, Trump is leading Clinton by 6 Electoral College votes, with a tally of 209-215. It takes 270 to win. Trump is declared this afternoon as the winner (it is) sufficient to take the Aussie down to 75 U.S. cents," said Ray Attrill, global co-head of FX strategy, National Australia Bank NAB.AX , Sydney.
"You're clearly going to see emerging market currencies and the Aussie dollar, the New Zealand dollar move in lockstep."
Wednesday's drop in the Aussie is the biggest since June 24 after global markets tumbled following the shock Brexit vote where Britain voted to leave the European Union.
The Aussie faltered against safe haven currencies such as the yen AUDJPY= , down 5 percent while the euro jumped the most against the Aussie EURAUD= since last August.
The New Zealand dollar NZD=D4 slipped 0.9 percent to $0.7316, following two straight days of gains. It is the Kiwi's biggest drop since Oct.11.
The Kiwi lost 4 percent on the yen NZDJPY= while the euro rose nearly 3 percent on the New Zealand currency EURNZD= .
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand holds its policy meeting on Thursday where it is widely expected to cut interest rates to a record low 1.75 percent. NZ/POLL
New Zealand government bonds 0#NZTSY= fell with yields up about 1 basis point across the curve.
Australian government bond futures rose, with the three-year bond contract YTTc1 up 1 tick at 98.41. The 10-year contract YTCc1 jumped 11 ticks to a one-month high of 97.7850. (Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)