Dollar firmer, awaiting news from Europe

THE Australian dollar saw a slight rise overnight, as traders await news from Europe on developments in the region's debt crisis talks.

THE Australian dollar saw a slight rise overnight, as traders await news from Europe on developments in the region's debt crisis talks.

GFT Forex director of currency research Kathy Lien said the currency had maintained a tight range of movement overnight, with little clear news from the Eurozone summit.

"The Australian dollar and the Euro moved pretty much in tandem throughout the North American trading session, with the Aussie currency trading like a risk currency," she said.

"The dollar ends the day not far from where it started, and the reason is that investors are still holding out hope that we'll get some resolution to the EU (European Union) debt crisis."

At 7am (AEDT) today, the Australian dollar was trading at 104.08 US cents, up from 103.74 cents at close the previous day.

The Australian dollar has seen a range of 103.17 and 104.24 US cents from the close at 5pm (AEDT) yesterday.

Ms Lien said the release of consumer price index (CPI) data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) yesterday had not had a significant impact on the movement of the currency overnight.

"Yesterday's CPI data has been pretty much ignored by Aussie dollar traders, who are now looking at the currency primarily as a risk trade," she said.

"The currency's movement is going to be extremely volatile over the next 24 hours, as we're still waiting for the press conference from the EU summit."