THE Australian dollar closed more than one US cent higher on news Australia's economy grew at its fastest pace in three years in the June quarter.
At 5pm Australian Eastern Standard Time, the dollar was trading at $US0.9010/12, up from yesterday's close of $US0.8893/96.
Since 7am, the dollar traded between $US0.8880 and $US0.9004.
TD Securities senior strategist Annette Beacher said the dollar was lifted by official figures showing the domestic economy grew by 1.2 per cent in the June quarter for an annual rate of 3.3 per cent.
Both figures were above market expectations.
"The Aussie definitely loved that data," she said.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed strong household consumption and terms of trade were the central drivers behind the strong GDP headline numbers.
Ms Beacher said a second contributing factor to the unit's rise was Chinese manufacturing data released during the trading day.
The HSBC China Manufacturing PMI, or purchasing managers index, rose to a three-month high of 51.9 last month from 49.4 in July.
"GDP told us about the past and the Chinese PMI is telling us about the future," she said.
"It was a double whammy."
But Ms Beacher said she expected the next 48 hours to be quiet for the Australian dollar ahead of US non-farm payrolls data due on Friday.
The US Labor Department data for August is expected to show a fall of 80,000 jobs in the month with an unemployment rate of 9.6 per cent.
