Dollar slightly higher ahead of Chinese data

THE dollar was slightly higher at noon (AEST), trading in a tight range as the market awaits direction from Chinese data and a central bank speech. At midday, it was trading at US104.01c, slightly up from US103.86c yesterday. Since 7am, the local unit traded between US103.89c and US104.15c. Easy Forex currency trader Tony Darvell said in the absence of any other guidance, movements in equities market were the main driver for the dollar. "It is up a little bit. We have seen subdued price action in the past 24 hours," he said. "There isn't a clear trend here at the moment. We're range trading and we're waiting for fresh direction." Mr Darvell said there was little reaction in currency markets to the rebel takeover of the Libyan capital and the imminent down fall of leader Muammar Gaddafi. Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. "It was very subdued it had more of an affect on gold and oil markets," he said. Mr Darvell said the market was waiting for the Chinese HSBC Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) for August to be released early this afternoon. Later this afternoon is a speech by Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) deputy governor Ric Battellino in Sydney. On Friday, RBA governor Glenn Stevens will appear before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics. During the offshore session on Friday night, US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke will give a speech to a central bank symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Meanwhile, the Australian bond market was slightly firmer. At noon, the September 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 95.690 (implying a yield of 4.310 per cent), down from 95.730 (4.270 per cent) yesterday. The September three-year bond futures contract was at 96.370 (3.630 per cent), down from 96.400 (3.600 per cent).