LONDON, Aug 21 Reuters The dollar held firm on Monday following five straight weeks of gains, as investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve39;s Jackson Hole symposium for guidance on where rates might settle when the dust of this hiking cycle clears.

The U.S. dollar made a gain of 0.7 on the euro last week, inched ahead versus the yen and surged by more than 1 against the Antipodean currencies as U.S. Treasury yields leapt in anticipation of interest rates staying higher for longer.

The Australian dollar , at 0.6402, and the New Zealand dollar , at 0.5919, were pinned close to last week39;s ninemonth lows after a rate cut from China disappointed markets worried about a stalling economy.

China cut its oneyear benchmark lending rate by 10 basis points and left its fiveyear rate unchanged, against economists39; expectations for larger 15 bp cuts to both.

The yuan slid to the weak side of 7.3 per dollar despite a firm fixing of its trading range by the central bank.

It last traded at 7.3077, though it has so far kept off last week39;s lows beyond 7.31 that had brought state banks into spot markets in London and New York hours as buyers.

Authorities are very alert to the risks of reigniting the property market boom and that almost by default leaves the currency going lower as the way policy is eased as a kind of escape valve, said Adam Cole, chief currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

That39;s what we expect going forward, and not surprisingly that spills over…