Dollar higher at noon

THE Australian dollar was higher at noon despite official figures showing a rise in the unemployment rate.

THE Australian dollar was higher at noon despite official figures showing a rise in the unemployment rate.

At 12pm AEST today, the Australian dollar was trading at 105.17 US cents, up from yesterday's local close of 105.09 US cents.

The Australian dollar fell about 0.3 US cent to 105.07 US cents after the Australian Bureau of Statistics said the jobless rate rose to 5.6 per cent in March, from 5.4 per cent in February. The economy shed 36,100 jobs in March, with full-time employment falling by 7400 and part-time jobs down 28,700. The forecast was for total employment to be flat in March with the unemployment rate at 5.4 per cent, according to an AAP survey of 14 economists.

Easy Forex senior dealer Francisco Solar said although the Australian dollar lost ground after the jobs numbers, the decline was not substantial and the currency remained within recent trading ranges.

Mr Solar said Australia had relatively high interest rates compared with many of its global peers, which ensured the local currency remained in demand from offshore players.

"We've seen this time and time again with the Australian dollar," Mr Solar said. "The Aussie falls on the back of a local data release and sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors just see that as a good opportunity to buy the Aussie dollar on the cheap."

"It seems like that is what we are seeing at the moment."

Meanwhile, the Australian bond market was mixed at noon, with the longer-dated bonds weaker and short-dated bonds a touch firmer. At 12pm AEST, the June 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.675 (implying a yield of 3.325 per cent), down from yesterday's close of 96.715 (3.285 per cent). The June three-year bond futures contract was at 97.210 (2.790 per cent), up from 97.190 (2.810 per cent) previously.