SYDNEY, April 9 Reuters The Australian dollar stumbled on Friday, pulling down the New Zealand dollar too, due to worries about a slowdown in Australias coronavirus vaccine rollout after the imposition of agerelated restrictions on the use of AstraZeneca shots.

The Australian dollar was last down 0.6 at 0.7607, almost reversing its gains from Thursday and easing back from a twoweek top of 0.7675 having failed to hold above key chart resistance at 0.7668.

Australia has restricted the use of the AstraZeneca COVID19 vaccine on which it had largely based its vaccination programme due to risks of blood clots. The policy change effectively spoils the governments chances of inoculating the entire population innoculated by October.

Although the vaccination programme was running slowly anyway, that will complicate Australias rollout timetable even more, said Jeffrey Halley, Senior Market Analyst, Asia Pacific, OANDA.

Delayed full reopening of borders equals a negative for Australia.

For the week so far, the Aussie was still up 0.3, its first increase since the week of March 12.

The currency has consolidated around 0.7650 in recent weeks following a brief runup to 0.80 earlier this year. Some analysts expect it to touch that high again.

We continue to expect the AUD to lift to 0.85 in the first half of 2022, supported by elevated commodity prices and by the global recovery gathering momentum, including across Europe, Westpacs currency strategists wrote in a note….