FOREX-Aussie dollar near 6-week peak as easing lockdowns spur risk

* AUD has gained 17% from March trough
* Kiwi slips, other majors rangebound
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E

By Tom Westbrook
SINGAPORE, April 28 (Reuters) - The Australian dollar tested
six-week highs on Tuesday, as signs of progress in re-opening
economies helped the risk-sensitive currency recoup most of the
panic selling seen in March, and as the greenback nursed
overnight losses.
The Aussie AUD=D3 has rallied more than 17% from last
month's 17-year low and overnight rose through resistance around
$0.6445. It drifted down to $0.6438 and was just below
multi-week peaks against the euro, pound and yen. Other majors
were steady.
"The Aussie is in beast mode at the moment," said Chris
Weston, head of research at Melbourne brokerage Pepperstone.
"Part of that is down to the fact that it is your best way
of playing reflation...it's kind of a proxy for equity markets,"
he said. Shorts had mostly fled their positions and momentum
funds had arrived to ride the wave, Weston said, as traders
seemed to worry less about fundamentals and focus more on the
valuation outlook.
The move comes amid a global push to re-start economies
frozen by coronavirus lockdowns.
In Australia, which has avoided the high number of deaths
seen in other countries, states are beginning to relax
restrictions on movement. Sydney's famous Bondi beach re-opened
to surfers on Tuesday. Italy, which has the world's second-highest number of
reported coronavirus deaths, will allow factories and building
sites to reopen from May 4 as it prepares to end Europe's
longest lockdown. The U.S. state of Georgia has begun letting residents dine
at restaurants and watch movies at theatres as more states, from
Minnesota to Mississippi, took steps to ease restrictions, even
though health experts warned it may be too early. Besides the Aussie, other majors were less exuberant. The
New Zealand dollar was subdued, weighed by a particularly
aggressive stance from its central bank.
The kiwi NZD=D3 retraced overnight gains and fell to
$0.5998 while the pound GBP= was steady around $1.2424, as
Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned it was too dangerous to
relax a strict lockdown in Britain. The Japanese yen JPY= has been rangebound just above 107
yen per dollar for half of April, and held at 107.27 on Tuesday.
The slightly softer dollar has also failed to give much lift
to the euro, as investors worry about the shape of a rescue
package for hardest hit and heavily indebted Spain and Italy.
"Whereas the U.S., UK, Australia, China and Japan, if needs
be, can go to the printing presses, in Europe you're
constrained," said Colin Harte, head of strategy at BNP Paribas
Asset Management in London.
"I think there's a little bit of a risk premium that's
creeping in to the euro on concerns about where do we go from
here."
The single currency EUR= held at $1.0832.