The Australian dollar is higher despite losses overnight following the release of strong US data.

At 0700 AEST on Friday, the local unit was trading at 91.71 US cents, up from 91.52 cents on Thursday.

Westpac New Zealand senior market strategist Imre Speizer said the Australian dollar fell as low as 91.40 US cents on the release of US data showing that manufacturing in the Philadelphia region was stronger than expected.

Those figures, combined with US jobless claims data which showed the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell 24,000 last week to a seasonally-adjusted 334,000, helped push the greenback higher, putting downward pressure on the Aussie, Speizer said.

“The US dollar got a bit of a bounce after the Philadelphia survey came in really strong,” Speizer said.

“That good US data seemed to have a clear effect on the Aussie dollar.”

He said the Australian dollar was now trading sideways.

Speizer said there was no data due out on Friday likely to drive the Australian currency in any direction.

AAP