December 29 2009, 5:41PM The Australian dollar closed stronger on Tuesday at its highest level in just over a week, buoyed by firmer commodities prices and rallying equity markets. At 1700 AEDT, the Australian dollar was trading at $US0.8880/82, up from last Thursday's close of $US0.8823/27. During the day, the local unit traded between $US0.8858 and $US0.8882. It was the first day session since local foreign exchange markets closed at 1700 AEDT on Christmas Eve. However, the Australian dollar had found support during offshore trading as commodities prices firmed and equity markets rallied. The upwards move continued during Tuesday's local session, lifting the unit to its highest close since December 21. HiFX senior consultant Tom Averill said strong commodities prices helped bolster the Australian dollar, as crude oil approached $US80 a barrel and gold firmed in both US and Australian trading. "Commodities really across the board have been supportive," Mr Averill said. While several Asian stock markets were trading in the red, the local bourse closed more than one per cent higher in its first post-Christmas session. The Australian dollar has appreciated about 1.6 per cent since it posted an 11-week low of $US0.8744 on December 23. Mr Averill said he expected the Australian dollar to be back above $US0.9000 "fairly early on in the new year". Despite Tuesday's move higher, Mr Averill said the unit may still be in for a bumpy ride for the remaining days of 2009. "This rally today doesn't necessarily suggest to us that the low has been posted in the Aussie," Mr Averill said. "I think we could still see another move back into the 87 US cent level and potentially as low as 86 US cents." US economic data due during Tuesday night's (AEDT) offshore session includes the Case-Shiller house price index for October and the Conference Board's consumer sentiment survey for December. Also scheduled is an auction of $US42 billion worth of five-year US Treasury notes. Mr Averill said the performance of US Treasuries during the offshore session, as well as how Wall Street fared, would largely determine direction for currency markets. "The Treasury market may be the leader, as it has been in the last week or so," Mr Averill said. CURRENCY TABLE: Currency snapshot at 1700 AEDT CURRENCY SPOT PREVIOUS CLOSE AUD/USD 0.8880-82 0.8823-27 AUD/JPY 81.40-45 80.54-58 AUD/EUR 0.6176-81 0.6150-54 AUD/NZD 1.2545-52 1.2486-97 AUD/GBP 0.5544-50 0.5517-22 EUR/USD 1.4371-76 1.4344-46 USD/JPY 91.71-72 91.28-31 EUR/JPY 131.81-86 130.95-98 (*Closes taken at 1700 AEDT previous local session) At 1600 AEDT, the Reserve Bank of Australia's trade weighted index (TWI) was at 69.1, up from last Thursday's close of 68.6.

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