ForexSpace.com - Forex news continues to buzz with the political uncertainty in Greece, which has prompted a wholesale dump by investors of risky assets in favour of snaffling up safe-havens such as Australian debt.

Thus, both the aussie and Kiwi dollars extended losses across the board in today’s trading; the AUD retreated 0.5 percent on the day to $1.0064, having plumbed $1.0052, its weakest since late December, with forex traders and top forex brokers citing a number of stops below $1.0004. David Scutt, a trader at Arab Bank Australia, opine that, “should the situation in Greece unravel, the heightened uncertainty, coupled with the prospect of large-scale easing from the Reserve Bank of Australia in response, will see the Aussie fall well below parity," he said, referring to the currency holding above parity since December 29, its second longest stretch above $1.00 and is very close to an all-time record of 144 days held in 2011.

Australia’s high commodity currency - cutting the cost of imports and making exports more expensive globally – has given rise to strong headwinds for the competitiveness of the country’s manufacturers. As much the AUD acted as something of a barometer for global confidence - and a proxy for confidence in China - HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham (pictured) found it unsurprising that the aussie had fallen so quickly against the greenback. Bloxham said he did not expect the deterioration in global market confidence to be as severe as late last year. But it would affect the domestic economy, he said, undermining the Federal Government's push for a surplus.

The kiwi, meantime, has fared little better than its antipodean neighbor. Dipping around 0.4 percent on the day to $0.7850, the NZD is at its weakest since early January, which analysts ascribe to an admixture of negative factors catching up with the hitherto high-flying kiwi, which until last week was seen as the top performer among commodity currencies. Looking down the road, “rising global risk aversion and extremely low local interest rates may keep the NZ dollar a little heavy in the short-term," said Bank of New Zealand currency strategist, Mike Jones.

Aside from Greek political jitters and French leadership change, a slide in Asian bourses also weighed heavily on sentiment, not only in regard to the Australian and New Zealand markets, but farther afield in China and Japan, each falling more than 1 percent. Moreover, talk of China seriously considering a delay in its congress meeting due to political disagreements did nothing to assuage worries about Beijing's resolve to push through reforms.

Drew Hillier. Editor