Australia, NZ dollars tumble to multi — week lows, bonds battered

By Wayne Cole SYDNEY, Sept 24 (Reuters) — The Australian and New Zealand dollars languished near multi-week lows on Thursday after red-hot US economic data boosted the greenback across the board, while a renewed rout in global bond markets drove yields to 15-year peaks. Domestic data showing a surprise rise in unemployment added to the Australian dollar's woes, nudging it to a seven-week low of $0.7025 after a 1% overnight slide. The drop breached multiple moving averages, turning the technical outlook bearish and risking a retreat to $0.6920 and $0.6866. The kiwi dollar was pinned at $0.5676, having also shed 1% overnight. A test of the June low at $0.5627 now looks likely, with scope for a decline to $0.5581. The selloff in risk assets overshadowed figures showing Australian employment rebounded by a solid 39,500 in August, well above forecasts for a gain of 20,000. Yet the jobless rate still edged higher to a five-year top of 4.6% as more people entered the labour force, suggesting supply was rising to meet the demand for workers. That will be of some comfort to Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock who has said unemployment between 4.5% and 5.0% was needed to help