Dollar gains one per cent over week

THE dollar gained one per cent this week, trading near its post float high, as investors were encouraged to buy risk assets by good US economic data.

THE dollar gained one per cent this week, trading near its post float high, as investors were encouraged to buy risk assets by good US economic data.

At 5pm AEDT, the local unit was trading at 101.28 US cents, up from 100.30 cents yesterday.

The currency finished last week at 1.0023 cents and its post float high was 102.53 cents, reached on January 1.

Since 7am AEDT, the Australian dollar traded between 101.31 cents and 101.09 cents.

Nomura chief economist Stephen Roberts said the Australian dollar had received a boost from solid data out of the US.

Overnight, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said its index of manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region nearly doubled between January and February.

The surge in manufacturing was enough to offset a Labor Department report that applications for unemployment benefits rose 25,000 from the previous week.

"Data out of the US is still very growth friendly," he said.

"Growth factors, at the moment, are on the ascendancy."

It was also pleasing to see the local unit escaping relatively unscathed from recent turmoil in the Middle East, Mr Roberts said.

"There's good support for commodities, equities and the Australia dollar," he said.

Mr Roberts said the currency was unlikely to move much going into the weekend.

"There's no data out in the US tonight. 

"They've also got a holiday on Monday because it's Presidents' Day over there (in the US)."

CURRENCY TABLE: Currency snapshot at 1700 AEDT

CURRENCY SPOT PREVIOUS CLOSE

AUD/USD 1.0127-29 1.0028-31 

AUD/JPY 84.33-37 83.80-84 

AUD/EUR 0.7437-44 0.7387-93 

AUD/NZD 1.3316-23 1.3276-84 

AUD/GBP 0.6259-65 0.6223-29 

EUR/USD 1.3610-12 1.3569-72 

USD/JPY 83.28-29 83.57-58 

EUR/JPY 113.33-37 113.40-43 

(*Closes taken at 1700 AEDT previous local session)

Sourcedata: IRESS

The RBA's trade weighted index (TWI) was at 75.5, up from Thursday's close of 75.0.