Dollar up on good Greek news, poor US data

THE dollar was higher today, helped by some good news about he Greek debt crisis and poor US economic data.

THE dollar was higher today, helped by some good news about he Greek debt crisis and poor US economic data.

At 7am (AEST) today, the dollar was trading at 106.73 US cents, up from 106.44 cents yesterday.

Since 5pm (AEST) yesterday, the local unit traded between 106.00 US cents and 106.89 cents.

Bank of New Zealand currency strategist, Mike Jones, said the dollar was torn between opposing forces last night (AEST).

"On the one hand, there was a broad-based weakening in the US dollar, which provided a boost for the Aussie," Mr Jones said.

"US data overnight was fairly lacklustre and continued to cast doubts on the strength of the US recovery, jobless claims were a bit stronger than expected, and factory orders were weaker," he said from Wellington. "That dragged the US dollar down.

"On the other hand, investors' appetite for risk is still fairly subdued, reflecting those concerns about a global slowdown, and that provided some headwinds for the Australian dollar."

A European official said overnight that talks over new austerity measures required to keep Greece from defaulting on its debts are close to conclusion.

"It was good news for the euro with Greek sovereign debt concerns continuing to fade, and that high euro also had the effect of dragging the Aussie higher," Mr Jones said.

Tonight, the US releases non-farm payroll figures for May, a key measure of unemployment.

The figure is expected to be weak, after it was reported on Wednesday night, on a survey by payrolls firm ADP, that the US private sector added only 38,000 jobs in May.

"I think markets could be quite sensitive to this non-farm payrolls number given there are concerns about US growth," Mr Jones said.

"A weaker number would weigh further on the US dollar and see the Aussie dollar up through 107.00 US cents."

Mr Jones said he expected the dollar to trade in a range between 106.20 US cents and 107.30 cents today.