Dollar lower at noon

DOLLAR lower at noon as investors snapped up the US dollar after the Bank of Japan flagged greater support for the Japanese economy.

THE Australian dollar was lower at noon as investors snapped up the US dollar after the Bank of Japan flagged greater support for the Japanese economy.

The BoJ's announcement of a boost to its purchases of Japanese government bonds led to a sharp fall in the yen against all the major currencies.

The Australian dollar rose about 1.5 per cent against the yen today from yesterday's local close.

"The yen has weakened considerably against the Aussie and the US dollar," Rochford Capital senior consultant Derek Mumford said. "But the Aussie has weakened against the US, euro and a little bit against the sterling as well so there are some quite strange moves going on."

At 12pm AEDT today, the currency was at 104.17 US cents, down from yesterday's local close of 104.41 US cents.

During the morning, the local currency moved in a tight range between 104.44 US cents and 104.12 US cents.

Mr Mumford said he expected the Australian dollar to trade close to current levels ahead of the release of US jobs figures for March, due out later today.

"The market is looking towards the US non-farm payrolls tonight, which is always a big number," he said.

Market expectations were for the world's largest economy to have added 190,000 jobs in March, with the unemployment rate tipped to come in unchanged from February at 7.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Australian bond market was firmer at noon. At 12pm AEDT today, the June 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.695 (implying a yield of 3.305 per cent), up from yesterday's close of 96.590 (3.41 per cent). The June three-year bond futures contract was at 97.180 (2.82 per cent), up from 97.120 (2.88 per cent) previously.