By Charlotte Greenfield and Wayne Cole
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, June 29 (Reuters) - The Australian and New Zealand dollars edged higher on Wednesday as some semblance of calm returned to global markets after the havoc of the Brexit vote, while bond yields held near record lows on expectations of further cuts in interest rates.
The Australian dollar AUD=D4 inched ahead to $0.7408 and further away from Friday's trough at $0.7305, though it remained well short of the recent $0.7617 peak.
Chart resistance was layered at $0.7460 and $0.7500 and could well restrain further gains ahead of a policy meeting by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) next week.
Analysts doubt the central bank would cut rates while the economic impact of the British vote is so uncertain, there was a chance it might re-instate a clear easing bias in its post-meeting statement on July 5.
Interbank futures 0#YIB: imply around a 12 percent probability of a quarter point cut in the 1.75 percent cash rate next week, but that rises to 66 percent for August.
Likewise, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand released its annual statement of intent on Wednesday in which it reiterated that further easing could still be required. limited the kiwi's bounce to $0.7076 NZD=D4 , from $0.7042 late Tuesday.
"The uncertainty generated by Brexit plus further RBNZ easing should be negative for the NZD," said Westpac analyst Imre Speizer in a research note, adding that they were targeting a move to the $0.6500 level.
All the talk of rate cuts coupled with plunging yields abroad kept local bonds well supported.
Even though near all-time lows Australia's 10-year bond yield AU10YT=RR of 2.01 percent looked positively sumptuous compared to the -26 basis points offered by German paper.
In Japan, the entire curve out to 40 years now paid less than 10 basis points, suggesting Japanese investors would likely remain buyers of Australian and New Zealand debt.
On the day, Australian bond futures ran into some profit-taking with the three-year contract off 5 ticks at 98.490 YTTc1 . The 10-year bond future YTCc1 eased 4 ticks to 97.970.
New Zealand government bonds 0#NZTSY= eased, sending yields 1 basis point higher at the long end of the curve. (Editing by Kim Coghill)