Dollar drifting lower at noon

THE dollar was flat at noon, as investors take profits on recent gains.

THE dollar was flat at noon, as investors take profits on recent gains.

At 12pm (AEDT), the dollar was trading at 100.69 US cents, little changed from yesterday's local close of 100.68 US cents.

Since 7am (AEDT) today, it has traded between a low of 100.66 US cents and a high of 101.14 US cents.

St George chief economist Besa Deda said the local unit was drifting lower today.

"It remains a pretty quiet trading day today," Ms Deda said.

"There's a bit of profit taking accruing, after getting to 101.28 US cents overnight, which is getting near the levels we haven't seen since before the Japanese disaster."

Overnight, oil prices pushed above $US105 per barrel, as traders focused on international crises in Libya and Yemen that could threaten global supplies at a time when consumption is tipped to increase.

Meanwhile, Japan's meteorological agency reported a strong earthquake had struck near the troubled nuclear power plant at the centre of Japan's radiation crisis.

"Events overseas are definitely one of the key factors we need to keep on the radar, as far as the Aussie is concerned," Ms Deda said.

"The lack of new catastrophic news out of Japan is helping sentiment.

"We still have ongoing tensions in the Middle East though, so that still has the potential to affect risk appetite."

The Bank of England is due to release minutes for its March Monetary Policy Committee meeting, during which it decided to keep interest rates at 0.5 per cent.

Ms Deda said the minutes would be keenly watched by currency traders.

"The consensus isn't that the UK will hike rates, but certainly speculation that the Bank of England will start raising rates soon."

Meanwhile, the local bond market was mixed.

At 12pm (AEDT) on the ASX 24, the June 10-year bond futures contract price was 94.560 (implying a yield of 5.440 per cent), down from 94.570 (5.430 per cent) yesterday.

The June three-year bond futures contract was trading at 95.000 (5.000 per cent), up from the previous close of 94.990 (5.010 per cent).