Australian dollar higher on open

THE Australian dollar was trading higher, as traders await an announcement from the US on the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations.

THE Australian dollar was trading higher, as traders await an announcement from the US on the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations.

At 0700 AEST today, the Australian dollar was trading at 108.57 US cents, up from 108.34 US cents on Friday.
Since 1700 AEST on Friday, the local unit traded between 108.25 US cents and 108.75 US cents.

US House Speaker John Boehner told House of Representatives Republicans in a conference call on Saturday that he hoped ongoing crisis talks with President Barack Obama would yield a compromise by Sunday afternoon, according to a call participant.

The speaker pleaded for unity from his restive rank-and-file and said the negotiations were centred on a two-step process to cut $US3-4 trillion in spending as part of a deal to raise the $US14.3 trillion ($A13.24 trillion) US debt limit, the call participant told AFP upon condition of anonymity.

Westpac New Zealand senior market strategist Imre Speizer said traders were expecting an announcement before the Asian session opens on Monday.

"It's unlikely we'll see something concrete and good enough to dispel all of the rating agency's worries,'' Mr Speizer said.

"You need to have a long-term deficit reduction plan agreed by everybody and it needs to be big enough.''
At 1130 AEST, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) releases producer price index (PPI) data for the June quarter.

Mr Speizer expects investors to be more focused on the ABS's consumer price index (CPI) data, due on Wednesday.

"CPI is the big release for Australia for the week because that's the one that will give a clue as to what the Reserve Bank of Australia might do (with the cash rate).''