Australian dollar bounces back from a poor week

THE dollar has ended stronger against the US dollar as traders waited for US employment data due overnight.

THE dollar has ended stronger against the US dollar as traders waited for US employment data due overnight.

At 5pm (AEDT), the dollar was trading at 97.72 US cents, up from yesterday's close of 96.65 cents.

Nomura chief economist Stephen Roberts said it was pleasing to see the Aussie bounce back from a poor week when it lost value on soft national accounts and retail trade data.

"I think the way the local data has been treated is as a bit of a speed bump," Mr Roberts said.

"But as time goes on, the economy is likely to look stronger rather than weaker - particularly in the first and second quarter next year."

Since 7am (AEDT), the local unit traded in a narrow range, between 97.41 US cents and 97.75 cents.

Mr Roberts said traders were waiting on US non-farm payrolls data, which was due to be released tonight during the offshore session.

The median market forecast is for US unemployment to remain stable at 9.6 per cent.

"So it's really a waiting game to see whether this risk rally that's been going on in the US over the last couple of nights continues after the non-farm payrolls tonight," Mr Roberts said.