The Australian and New Zealand dollars stood near multi-month lows on Friday as investors remained jittery about US President Donald Trump's trade policies. The US Commerce Department launched an investigation on Wednesday to determine whether a flood of aluminium imports from China and elsewhere was compromising US national security, a step that could lead to broad import restrictions on the metal.

Commodity-led currencies, such as the Australian dollar, could be badly hit by any measures in global trade deemed protectionist. The Australian dollar, seen as a liquid proxy for the Chinese yuan, stood at $0.7473, after earlier falling to $0.7440, the lowest since January 12. The Aussie is set to end the month down 2 percent to record its worst monthly performance since December 2016.

The New Zealand dollar sank to a ten-month low overnight of $0.6847. The currency rose slightly on Friday morning to $0.6883, still well below Thursday's high of $0.6920. The currency is poised to lose 1.8 percent in April, its third straight month of losses. New Zealand government bonds gained, sending yields 1 basis point lower at the long end of the curve.

Australian government bond futures rose, with the three-year bond contract up 2 ticks at 98.160. The 10-year contract added 4 ticks to 97.40. "Commodity currencies were again under pressure, coinciding with the Trump Administration's latest attack on imports - aluminium," said Imre Speizer, currency strategist at Westpac. "The US Administration's trade protectionist policies are weighing."

Copyright Reuters, 2017