Australia, New Zealand dollars find comfort in rising resource prices

The Australian and New Zealand dollars were holding their ground on Tuesday as strength in global commodity prices helped offset some of the investor unease about Russia's incursion into eastern Ukraine. Both countries are major commodity exporters, with Australia having a major presence in energy through coal and liquefied natural gas.
 

The Aussie was further aided by gains against the euro which has shed around three cents in the past couple of weeks as tensions escalated to stand at A$1.5716. Against the U.S. dollar, the Aussie edged up a fraction to $0.7197 in a relatively resilient performance given its usual