By Gyles Beckford and Cecile Lefort
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The Australian and New Zealand dollars were on a firmer footing on Tuesday, with the former supported by minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) showing policy makers were less worried about the currency.
The Australian dollar nudged up to $0.7383, but was still stuck in a narrow band of $0.7323 and $0.7409 seen in the last four sessions. It touched a six-year low of $0.7217 last week.
The Aussie was underpinned after minutes of the August policy meeting showed the RBA was of the opinion a weaker Australian dollar was helping exports, a departure from previous meetings when the bank said the currency needed to fall further.
The central bank, which kept rates at 2 percent after cutting them to all-time lows in May, reiterated policy needed to be stimulative to help the economy adjust to the end of a mining investment boom.
Interbank futures were little changed. Markets are giving a less than 50-50 chance of another easing by the end of the year, rising to 66 percent by mid-2016.
The euro was nursing losses at A$1.5000, having dropped 3 cents in a week.
The New Zealand dollar NZD=D4 rose to $0.6595, from $0.6570 in early trade. It looks to have recovered and once again has re-established itself above $0.6500 after hitting a six year low of $0.6468 last week, with the prospect it might drift higher.
"Add to that the growing expectation that dairy prices might bounce at tonight's auction, and the still-short speculative market, and the NZ dollar could well drift back above $0.66," said BNZ strategist Raiko Shareef in a note.
Dairy futures point to a lift in prices at the auction, with Fonterra reducing the amount it will put up for sale.
Near term support for the kiwi is at $0.6520 with $0.6620 seen capping the topside.
Aside from the dairy auction there's little risk for the kiwi from local data this week, which includes second quarter producer prices and consumer confidence.
New Zealand government bond yields were marginally lower.
Australian government bond futures rose, with the three-year bond contract up 2 ticks at 98.050. The 10-year contract added 3 ticks to 97.2200. (Editing by Shri Navaratnam)