Dollar up as traders wait on key China data

THE dollar was higher at noon as investors waited on key Chinese economic data to be released today.

THE dollar was higher at noon (AEDT) as investors waited on key Chinese economic data to be released today.

At midday, the local unit was trading at US99.89c, up from US99.39c yesterday.

Since 7am yesterday, the dollar traded between US99.61c and US99.99c.

RBC senior economist Su-Lin Ong said the local currency traded in a very narrow range today in the absence of major economic data being released.

"It was a little softer post the (Westpac) consumer confidence data at 1030 this morning - that's when it hit its lows for the morning," Ms Ong said.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment fell 5.7 per cent in January to 104.6, from 111.0 in December.

The survey covered the period of January 10 to 16 and coincided with some of the worst days of the floods.

Ms Ong said the data was in line with market expectations.

"Obviously the focus on the floods has hit confidence a little and the currency is off a little on that," she said.

A raft of Chinese economic data due out tomorrow, including gross domestic product figures for the last quarter of 2010 and December retail sales data, may provide short term direction for the dollar, Ms Ong said.

She expected the local unit to trade within its tight range for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile, at noon on the ASX 24, the March 10-year bond futures contract price was 94.360 (implying a yield of 5.640 per cent), down from yesterday's close of 94.455 (5.545 per cent).

The March three-year bond futures contract price was 94.800 (5.200 per cent), lower from 94.870 (5.130 per cent).