The Australian dollar was higher today after dipping slightly on soft retail and building approvals data late on this morning.
But it ticked back up about a fifth of a US cent after the Reserve Bank announced rates would remain on hold at 4.5 per cent until at least next month.
At midday, the Australian dollar was trading at 91 US cents, up 0.14 per cent from yeterday's close of 90.87 US cents. It was also buying 78.64 yen, 69.08 euro cents and 57.28 pence.
Since 7am, the domestic dollar traded between 90.92 and 91.41 US cents, according to IRESS data.
Australian retail trade rose by just 0.2 per cent in June while building approvals fell 3.3 per cent in the same month, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Nomura Australia chief economist Stephen Roberts said the local currency had dipped on the data.
‘‘Slightly softer data is having a little bit of an influence,’’ Mr Roberts said.
‘‘The Australian dollar is quite elevated at the moment, way above 91 US cents again, so at this level it’s saying that risk is back in terms of people wanting to invest in equity markets.
‘‘So when you get anything that’s slightly soft on the data side, it probably takes a bit of steam out of the Australian dollar.’’
Mr Roberts predicted the local unit would be well supported in the lead up to the Reserve Bank of Australia interest rate decision at 2.30pm east coast time.
The retail sales and building approvals data were unlikely to affect the RBA’s interest rate decision, he said.
The 0.2 per cent rise in Australian retail trade at current prices brought the figure to a seasonally adjusted $20.184 billion, from a downwardly revised $20.146 billion in May, the ABS said.
Over the June quarter, retail sales rose by 0.8 per cent to $57.925 billion in seasonally adjusted volume terms.
The median market forecast was for retail sales to have risen by 0.4 per cent in the month and by 0.7 per cent in the quarter.
Meanwhile, Australian building approvals fell 3.3 per cent to 13,267 units in June, seasonally adjusted, from an upwardly revised 13,721 units in May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.
In the year to June, building approvals were up 13.2 per cent.
The median market forecast was for building approvals to have risen 1.5 per cent in the month.
AAP