SYDNEY, April 1 Reuters The Australian and New Zealand dollars were perilously close to major chart bulwarks on Thursday as the U.S. dollar continued its broad advance, though both currencies fared better against the lowyielding euro and yen.

The Aussie eased to 0.7584, after failing to clear resistance at 0.7664. The focus was on the recent low of 0.7564 where a break would risk a retreat to 0.7500, if not the 200day moving average at 0.7385.

The kiwi faded to 0.6975 and away from resistance at 0.7033. Again, that was uncomfortably near a recent fourmonth trough of 0.6944 and a breach would open the way to the 200day moving average at 0.6880.

Australian data was a mixed bag with retail sales falling a smallerthanexpected 0.8 in February, while the trade surplus missed forecasts at A7.5 billion 5.69 billion because of a surprisingly sharp rise in imports.

Much more emphatic were figures showing home prices rose at the fastest pace in three decades in March, delivering a windfall to consumer wealth and confidence.

Yet the surge has done little to shake the Reserve Bank of Australias RBA commitment to superloose policy, which is focused on driving unemployment down to levels that will lift wage growth and inflation.

With this in mind, we expect the RBA to remain dovish, despite rapidly rising housing prices and growth in new housing finance, said Paul Bloxham, Australia chief economist at HSBC.

We expect the RBA to keep its cash rate and 3year yield targets at 0.10…