In the latest trading session, the Australian and New Zealand Dollars surged on hopes that the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will today inform the Congress that last week's hike in discount rate is now a precursor to driving up borrowing costs as well.

The NZ Dollar gained on speculations that the South Pacific nation's interest rates will continue to remain above those of America, after Fed Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard announced that the central bank might now be hiking rates at all during this year.

In addition, demand for the Australian Dollar was fueled as Japanese investment trusts looked to raise more money to purchase foreign assets.

"The focus is on what Bernanke may signal during his testimony. Currencies such as the Australian dollar and the South African rand are likely to be supported versus the yen by Japanese investment trusts", said Akane Vallery Uchida, a currency strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in Tokyo.

The Australian Dollar surged to 89.34 US cents today from yesterday's value of 89.14 cents, when it had dropped by 1%. NZ Dollar, on the other hand, rose to hit the value of 69.49 US cents.