By Cecile Lefort and Charlotte Greenfield
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The Australian and New Zealand dollars regained some ground on Wednesday after China's efforts to stabilise its currency brought a moment of calm to Asian equity markets, even as commodity prices extended losses.
The Australian dollar AUD=D4 rose from early levels of $0.6987 to trade at $0.7019, pulling away from the four-month low of $0.6927 touched on Monday.
The bid tone was underpinned by firmer Asian share markets after heavy intervention by Chinese authorities to stem the yuan's fall by making it prohibitively expensive to short the currency.
Resistance was found at Tuesday's peak of $0.7021 with dealers citing sellers ahead of $0.7050.
The Aussie is down nearly 4 percent so far this year with investors worried that China may be losing its grip on managing the slowdown of its economy.
The focus will be on Chinese trade data, usually released around 0200 GMT. ECONCN
Further falls in exports and imports are widely expected, but any downside surprise could shatter the market's fragile peace and renew selling pressure on risk assets.
Yet, for some, the Aussie is unlikely to fall much further.
"The seemingly random series of (yuan) fixes, intervention in FX and equity markets and soft (China) PMI data has hit the Australian dollar hard," said Westpac in a note.
"This 'Trifecta of Trouble' looks like it has hit AUD into a new $0.68 to $0.72 range," it added, seeing a stabilisation in the lower end of the range due to a healthy pipeline of mergers and acquisitions that will boost inflows.
Versus the safe-haven yen, the Aussie stood at 82.44 yen and up from a three-year trough of 80.84 AUDJPY=R . The kiwi held at 77.24 yen NZDJPY=R , off from a four-month low on Monday.
The New Zealand dollar NZD=D4 edged up to $0.6555, but not far from an 8-week trough of $0.6509 set on Monday.
A private survey released on Tuesday showed prices for New Zealand's main commodities fell in December, with dairy prices down 3.5 percent. considerations continue to dominate trading with the rout in commodities, volatility in equities, and dislocation in the CNH market of key focus," ANZ analysts said in a research note.
Analysts expected the Kiwi to trade between $0.6490 and $0.6580.
New Zealand government bonds 0#NZTSY= gained, sending yields 2.5 basis points lower along the curve.
Australian government bond futures had a firm tone, with the three-year bond contract YTTc1 up 2 ticks at 98.030. The 10-year contract YTCc1 rose 2.5 ticks to 97.2450, while the 20-year contract YXXc1 added 3 ticks to 96.7600. (Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)