THE dollar was weaker at noon following a quiet morning session, but it held onto most of its gains from yesterday night.
At 12pm (AEDT), the local unit was trading at 101.43 US cents, down from 101.56 cents yesterday.
Since 7am (AEDT) today, the local dollar traded between 101.37 US cents and 101.49 cents.
CMC Markets foreign exchange dealer Tim Waterer said today's domestic session had so far been a quiet one, while the dollar had been well supported since yesterday's offshore trade.
He said firm commodity prices and a strong night on the US share market helped the unit shrug off the shock of a surprise interest rate rise in China.
"It held up quite well, even with the (Chinese rate decision).
"In the past we have seen it cause a bigger shift than it did last night."
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China's central bank raised interest rates for the second time in just over a month in a bid to dampen inflation and guide economic growth to a sustainable level.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced on Tuesday on its website that the benchmark one-year deposit rate would rise by a quarter percentage point to three per cent and the one-year lending rate would increase by a similar amount to 6.06 per cent.
However, strong commodity prices shielded the growth currency from the PBOC's decision, Mr Waterer said.
In April contracts, gold rose $15.90 to settle at $US1364.10 per fine ounce on the Comex division of the NYMEX, and platinum also rose, by $17.70 to settle at $US1861.90.
In March contracts, silver rose 92.8 cents to settle at $US30.271 per ounce and palladium lifted $19.40 to $US838.45.
Mr Waterer said he did not expect the unit to make any large moves ahead of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Labour Force data tomorrow.
The median forecast for the unemployment rate in January is to be steady at five per cent, with 16,500 jobs added for the month, an AAP survey of 12 economists shows.
The participation rate in January is also expected to remain unchanged at 65.8 per cent.
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