Dollar lower after mixed data

THE dollar is lower, moved around by a disappointing consumer confidence indicator and predictable wage price numbers.

THE dollar is lower on a relatively quiet day, moved around by a disappointing consumer confidence indicator and predictable wage price numbers.

At 12pm AEST today, the local unit was trading at 104.69 US cents, down from 105.22 cents yesterday.

RBC senior economist Su-Lin Ong said there was only a sparse amount of data available to influence the local currency.

"The Aussie dollar was soft going into the consumer confidence numbers," she said.

"Those numbers were a bit disappointing, so it dropped, and it recovered a little bit following good wage price data."

The Westpac/Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment was released this morning, and showed an unexpected weakness in August, despite government pay-outs and rate cuts from the Reserve Bank of Australia earlier in the year.

The index fell 2.5 per cent to 96.6 in the month, from 99.1 in July.

This release was followed by official data showing that Australia's labour price had grown close to expectations in the June quarter.

Total hourly rates of pay, excluding bonuses, rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.0 per cent in the period, while the wage price index rose 3.7 per cent from a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said.

Meanwhile, the Australian bond market was weaker at noon.

At 12pm AEST today, the September 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.760 (implying a yield of 3.240 per cent), down from 96.780 (3.220 per cent) at yesterday's close.

The September three-year bond futures contract was at 97.250 (2.750 per cent), down from 97.270 (2.730 per cent.)