By Cecile Lefort
SYDNEY, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The Australian and New Zealand dollars were nursing hefty losses in thin trading on Monday after an upbeat U.S. non-farm payrolls report gave a jolt of energy to their U.S. peer.
The Australian dollar AUD=D4 popped back above 71 U.S. cents, from $0.7063 in early trade, but was still licking its wounds from Friday's nearly 2 percent drop.
Support was seen at $0.7060. Resistance was found at a one-month peak of $0.7242 touched last week.
It was also sharply lower against the safe-haven yen at 83.61 AUDJPY=R , from a top of 86.20 set last week.
The Antipodean currencies were among the hardest hit on Friday after the U.S. jobless rate dipped to an 8-year low, blowing some life back into Federal Reserve hike expectations.
Worries about slowing global growth had convinced many investors that the next hike by the Federal Reserve would be a long time coming.
At home, job advertisements in newspapers and on the Internet resumed their growth in January, suggesting solid demand for labour that should help keep Australia's unemployment rate steady. futures 0#YIB: imply a 62 chance of an interest rate cut by mid-year to a record low of 1.75 percent.
Most centres in the region are shut on Monday and Tuesday for the Lunar New Year holidays. China will be closed all week.
A New Zealand annual celebration added to the kiwi's lull. The New Zealand dollar stood at $0.6642 NZD=D4 , from $0.6622 early. It skidded 1.5 percent on Friday but still managed to be up 2.1 percent for the week in this year's largest gain.
Australian government bond futures fell, with the three-year bond contract YTTc1 off 3 ticks at 98.140. The 10-year contract YTCc1 eased 5 ticks to 97.4050, while the 20-year contract YXXc1 dropped 4.5 ticks to 96.8700. (Editing by Kim Coghill)