By Cecile Lefort and Charlotte Greenfield
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The Australian and New Zealand dollars held solid gains on Friday as their U.S. counterpart took a knock from soft economic news that trimmed expectations of an aggressive tightening by the Federal Reserve.
The Australian dollar AUD=D4 was firm at $0.7093, having rallied nearly 1 percent on Thursday. It briefly popped back above 71 cents and was set to post a rise of 1.1 percent for the week.
Resistance was found at $0.7129 with support around 70 cents and more solidly at $0.6828, a seven-year low touched last week.
Also underpinning the Antipodean currencies was a bounce in oil and iron ore prices. The Aussie, however, was still down 2.7 percent for January, reflecting concerns about China, falling commodities and global growth.
The Reserve Bank of Australia holds its monthly policy meeting on Feb. 2 and it is widely expected to keep rates at a record low of 2.0 percent, where they have been since May 2015.
For poll results click: reuters://realtime/verb=Open/url=cpurl://apps.cp./Apps/cb-polls?s=GCR01+2H+7&st=Menu+G+C
The rate outlook on a 12-month horizon was also steady, though 11 respondents out of 31 economists polled predicted one or more cuts by June.
"The latest round of worries about global growth coming at a time when domestic growth remains sluggish, national income is being hit by the continuing slump in commodity prices, the housing sector is losing momentum and inflation is low are likely to see the RBA strengthen its easing bias," said Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital, seeing a cut in March.
Interbank futures 0#YIB: imply almost no risk of an easing next week and a 20 percent chance of a cut by March.
The New Zealand dollar NZD=D4 regained some ground to $0.6486. It had dipped as low as $0.6419 on Thursday after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand said it might have to cut rates again given inflation remained too low.
The Kiwi was set to end the week where it started. For the month, however, it has skidded 5 percent in the largest monthly decline since June last year.
New Zealand government bonds 0#NZTSY= eased at the short end and gained at the long end as the yield curve flattened.
Australian government bond futures rose, with the three-year bond contract YTTc1 up 2 ticks at 98.100. The 10-year contract YTCc1 was also 2 ticks higher at 97.3300, while the 20-year contract YXXc1 added 1 tick to 96.8150. (Editing by Sam Holmes)