SYDNEY, Jan 19 Reuters The Australian dollar reversed a recent rally on Thursday, as rising fears of a U.S. recession and soft local jobs data knocked the risksensitive currency, while the kiwi was little moved by the resignation of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

The Aussie eased 0.4 to 0.6910 , the softest level in one week, after hitting a fivemonth high of 0.7064 just one session before. It now faces resistance at around 70 cents and has support at the 14day moving average of 0.6889.

The kiwi edged 0.2 lower to 0.6428 , after touching a sevenmonth high of 0.6530. It has support at 0.6360 and did not react much to news that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will step down next month.

U.S. data overnight showed retail sales fell by the most in a year in December and manufacturing output recorded its biggest drop in nearly two years, fuelling fears the world39;s largest economy is headed for a recession.

That drove investors back to the safehaven dollar and bonds, with futures markets pricing in rate cuts from the Federal Reserve by the end of the year, after the Fed funds rate peaks at 4.85 by June.

The Fed is widely expected to slow its rate hike in February to 25 basis points as inflation eases, after downshifting the size of increases just in December.

However, a slew of policymakers sounded hawkish overnight, signalling they would push on with more interest rate hikes, with several supporting a top policy rate of at least 5.

Local data on Thursday, which showed…