The Australian dollar is higher after the release of some disappointing US economic data.

At 0700 AEST on Friday, the local unit was trading at 77.78 US cents, up from 77.28 cents on Thursday.

US new home sales fell 11.4 per cent in March to an annualised sales pace of 481,000, the lowest sales pace since November.

Westpac senior market strategist, Imre Speizer, said the US Purchasing Managers’ Index that measures factory output fell in April, suggesting that the US economy grow might have phase lost a bit of pace.

“The US dollar and US interest rates fell after some disappointing US data,” he said.

“The Australian dollar benefitted from the US dollar weakness, rising from 77.15 US cents to 77.91 cents.”

AAP