Dollar higher after RBA minutes

THE dollar is slightly higher after the release of minutes from the central bank's meeting earlier this month.

THE dollar is slightly higher after the release of minutes from the central bank's meeting earlier this month.

At 12pm AEST today, the local unit was trading at 104.77 US cents, up from from 104.50 cents yesterday.

Westpac chief currency strategist Robert Rennie said minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's August 7 meeting had not added much to its earlier commentary on the state of the Australian economy or its rate positioning.

"I think we were hoping for more significant insights from the RBA minutes," he said.

"But, I guess having had their earlier Statement on Monetary Policy, it was never really going to be a particularly exciting outcome."

However, the dollar had held up pretty strongly given weaker performances on US equity markets overnight, Mr Rennie said.

The main event for markets this week would be RBA governor Glenn Stevens' speech to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics on Friday, he said.

"There's concern about the elevated levels of the Australian dollar versus softer commodity prices," he said.

"And Treasury has opened up discussion about the best policy to address the strength of the currency."

Meanwhile, bonds were higher at noon.

At 12pm AEST today, the September 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.665 (implying a yield of 3.335 per cent), up from 96.630 (3.370 per cent) at yesterday's close.

The September three-year bond futures contract was at 97.170 (2.830 per cent), up from 97.160 (2.840 per cent.)