  We have searched for 22 GHz H2O and 43/86/129 GHz SiO masers in bright IRAS
point sources in the SMC and LMC, to test whether the kinematics of the mass
loss from these stars depends on metallicity. H2O masers were detected in the
red supergiants IRAS04553-6825 and IRAS05280-6910, and tentatively in the
luminous IR object IRAS05216-6753 and the AGB star IRAS05329-6708. SiO masers
were detected in IRAS04553-6825. The outflow velocity increases between the H2O
masing zone near the dust-formation region and the more distant OH masing zone
from 18 to 26 km/s for IRAS04553-6825 and from 6 to 17 km/s for IRAS05280-6910.
The total sample of LMC targets is analysed in comparison with circumstellar
masers in the Galactic Centre. The photon fluxes of circumstellar masers in the
LMC are very similar to those in the Galactic Centre. The expansion velocities
in the LMC appear to be 20% lower than for similarly bright OH masers in the
Galactic Centre, but the data are consistent with no difference in expansion
velocity. OH/IR stars in the LMC appear to have slower accelerating envelopes
than OH/IR stars in the Galactic Centre. Masers in the LMC have blue-asymmetric
emission profiles. This may be due to the amplification of stellar and/or
free-free radiation, rather than the amplification of dust emission, and may be
more pronounced in low metallicity envelopes. SiO maser strength increases with
the photometric amplitude at 2.2 micron but is independent of the photometric
amplitude at 10 micron. This suggests a strong connection between shocks in the
dust-free SiO masing zone and the dust formation process. Appendices describe
H2O maser emission from R Dor in the Milky Way, optical echelle spectroscopy of
IRAS04553-6825, and the properties of masers in the Galactic Centre (Abridged).
