By Cecile Lefort
WELLINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The New Zealand dollar rallied to a five-week peak on Monday, while the Australia dollar also edged up, after weak U.S. jobs data prompted markets to push back the timing of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
The New Zealand dollar NZD=D4 inched up to $0.6472, the highest since Aug 31, having finally broken out of a well-defined range between $0.6305 and $0.6458 seen since late August.
It was last at $0.6466, having rallied 0.8 percent on Friday when the U.S. nonfarm payrolls showed employers adding 142,000 jobs last month, well below's forecasts for a rise of 203,000. ECONUS
Resistance was seen around $0.6500, though trading was thinned by holidays in Australia and China.
The downbeat U.S. jobs also supported the Australian dollar AUD=D4 . It edged up to $0.7077, from $0.7061 early, on top of a 0.4 percent gain seen last week. Resistance was found around 71 cents, the 50 percent retracement of the September move.
It touched a 6-1/2-year low of $0.6892 last month on concerns about global growth and expectations of a Fed rate rise.
The week's focus is on the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) which holds its monthly policy meeting on Tuesday. While it is widely expected to keep rates at a record low of 2 percent, the market will be scrutinising the policy statement for clues on the central bank's next move.
Only one third of 25 economists polled by Reuters forecast more easing. Future debt markets 0#YIB: are more bearish, giving a 50-50 percent chance of a cut early next year.
"The market may get some sense if it is justified in pricing around 40 basis points of further cuts from the Reserve Bank in this cycle," said Kim Martin, a senior market strategist at Bank of New Zealand.
New Zealand government bonds 0#NZTSY= rose with yields 2.5 basis points lower along the curve.
Australian government bond futures jumped to six-week highs, with the three-year bond contract YTTc1 up 6 ticks at 98.250. The 10-year contract YTCc1 rose 6.5 ticks to 97.4150. (Editing by Shri Navaratnam)