Dollar boosted by strong data

THE Australian dollar has been boosted by strong local and Chinese economic data.

Greenback strength saw the Australian dollar trade lower, despite recent strong local and Chinese data, she said. (AAP Image/Jul

THE Australian dollar has been boosted by strong local and Chinese economic data.

At 12pm AEDT today, the local unit was trading at 94.89 US cents, up from 94.80 cents on Friday.

An official measure of China's manufacturing activity hit an 18-month high in October, while another measure of non-manufacturing activity rose to its highest level in 13 months.

Locally, there was better than expected retail trade figures, and further growth in capital city house prices.

The economic data drove the Aussie dollar higher, Commonwealth Bank currency strategist Peter Dragicevich said.

"It's really a combination of the data from here and offshore," Mr Dragicevich said.

"We had some positive Chinese data on the weekend, and then we had the retail sales data which was quite solid, particularly the quarterly numbers.

"The volumes growth shows it should be a positive contributor to gross domestic product."

Meanwhile, bond futures prices were lower.

At 12pm AEDT today, the December 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 95.900 (implying a yield of 4.100 per cent), down from 95.975 (4.025 per cent) on Friday.

The December three-year bond futures contract was at 96.830 (3.170 per cent), down from 96.930 (3.070 per cent).

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