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Dollar up despite weak Chinese data

THE dollar has moved higher despite the release of weak Chinese data on Friday.

At 12pm AEST today, the local unit was trading at 105.60 US cents, up from 105.23 cents on Friday.

CMC foreign exchange dealer Tim Waterer said the local currency had moved little from its position at today's opening, and was not likely to do much throughout the week.

"There were a couple of key events last week which moved the markets, but it's a quiet one this week," he said.

"I think the markets are just biding their time until the next key events for the ECB (European Central Bank) or FOMC (the Federal Reserve's policy making arm the Federal Open market Committee) come around."

Mr Waterer said investors were hoping for some stimulus from either of the two central banks, but would have to wait until September before this could happen.

"We could be trading sideways up until those decisions next month," he siad.

He said that the dollar was holding up well, given several pieces of weak Chinese data which came out late last week.

Chinese trade figures on Friday showed that imports were weaker in July, while the number of new bank loans was lower than expected.

Meanwhile, the Australian bond market is weaker.

At 12pm AEST today, the September 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.815 (implying a yield of 3.185 per cent), down from 96.840 (3.160 per cent).

The September three-year bond futures contract was at 97.310 (2.690 per cent), down from 97.320 (2.680 per cent). 

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