By Candice Zachariahs Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The Australian and New Zealand dollars headed for a weekly gain before a U.S. report forecast to show the world’s largest economy lost jobs at the slowest pace in more than a year. The two currencies, little changed today, also strengthened this week as concern over state-controlled Dubai World eased, boosting demand for higher-yielding assets. The U.S. Labor Department will report today the economy lost 125,000 jobs in November, the least since March 2008, according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey. “U.S. non-farm payrolls will be key for the next direction,” said Susumu Kanazawa, head of treasury in Sydney at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd. “The Dubai shock dominated the market earlier this week but failed to take the Aussie lower.” Australia’s currency traded at 92.29 U.S. cents as of 4:40 p.m. in Sydney from 92.39 cents in New York yesterday. It was at 81.37 yen from 81.55. New Zealand’s dollar bought 72.14 U.S. cents from 72.17 cents, and traded at 63.60 yen from 63.70. The so-called Aussie has risen 1.8 percent against the greenback this week and 3.7 percent versus the yen. The kiwi has risen 1.5 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively. Gains in the two currencies were tempered today as Asian stocks declined after the Institute for Supply Management said yesterday its gauge of non-manufacturing businesses in the U.S. dropped to 48.7 in November, below the reading of 50 that indicates growth. The MSCI Asia Pacific index of regional shares fell 0.6 percent. ‘Pretty Poorly’ “Equities closed pretty poorly in New York so the U.S. dollar got a bid and risk currencies were lower,” said Phil Burke, chief foreign-exchange dealer at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Sydney. “There’s going to be some profit taking going into payrolls.” The Australian dollar should find buyers toward 91.50 cents, he said. The two currencies are set to end two weeks of losses against the dollar and yen on speculation Dubai is unlikely to default on its debt. Dubai World, with $59 billion of debt and other liabilities, said on Nov. 25 it would seek a standstill agreement with creditors and an extension of loan maturities. The company began talks on restructuring less than half its total liabilities this week and said the rest of its obligations are on “a stable financial footing.” Rate Increase Australia’s dollar also gained this week as the central bank raised interest rates for a record third month on Dec. 1 to 3.75 percent. Swaps traders are betting there will be a further 1 percentage point of increases over the next 12 months, according to a Credit Suisse AG index. Interest rates of 3.75 percent in Australia and 2.5 percent in New Zealand, compared with 0.1 percent in Japan and as low as zero in the U.S., attract investors to the South Pacific nations’ higher-yielding assets. The risk in these so-called carry trades is that currency market moves will erase profits. Australian government bonds were little changed with the benchmark 10-year note yielding 5.38 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. New Zealand’s two-year swap rate, a fixed payment made to receive floating rates, was unchanged at 4.33 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net.

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