The Australian and New Zealand dollars slipped against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Thursday amid rising risk aversion, as the death toll from the spread of the coronavirus increased and the World Health Organisation said it would reconvene today to decide whether to declare the risk of the outbreak a global health emergency.

Some of the world's largest companies are curbing operations in China and restricting travel to the region due to the fast-spreading coronavirus. According to Chinese health officials, the coronavirus outbreak has killed 170 people and infected 7,711 people.

On the economic front, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that export prices in Australia were down 5.2 percent on quarter, but rose 4.1 percent on year in the fourth quarter of 2019. Import prices were up 0.7 percent on quarter and 1.4 percent on year in the quarter.

The aussie dropped to 0.6731 against the greenback, its lowest since October 16. The next possible support for the aussie is seen around the 0.625 level.

The aussie fell to 3-1/2-month lows of 73.27 against the yen and 1.6364 against the euro, off its early highs of 73.65 and 1.6295, respectively. The aussie is seen finding support around 72.5 against the yen and 1.65 against the euro.

Reversing from an early high of 0.8915 against the loonie, the aussie edged down to 0.8887. The aussie is likely to target support around the 1.05 mark.

The kiwi dipped to near 2-month lows of 0.6505 against the greenback and 70.81 against the yen, from its previous highs of 0.6530 and 71.20, respectively. If the kiwi extends decline, 0.63 and 67.00 are possibly seen as its next support levels against the greenback and the yen, respectively.

The kiwi weakened to a 1-1/2-month low of 1.6933 against the euro, following an advance to 1.6862 at 5:00 pm ET. The kiwi is poised to target support around the 1.72 mark.

The kiwi ticked down to 1.0352 against the aussie, from a high of 1.0332 seen at 7:30 pm ET. On the downside, 1.05 is possibly seen as the next support level for the kiwi.

Looking ahead, Swiss KOF leading indicator and German jobless rate for January, Eurozone jobless rate for December and economic confidence index for January will be published in the European session.

At 7:00 am ET, the Bank of England's interest rate decision is scheduled for release. Economists widely expect the BoE to maintain interest rate at 0.75 percent and asset-purchase program at GBP 435 billion.

German flash inflation for January is due at 8:00 am ET.

U.S. GDP data for the fourth quarter and weekly jobless claims for the week ended January 25 will be featured in the New York session.

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