The Australian dollar opened higher today, strengthened by a positive close on Wall Street.
At 7am (AEST), the local unit was trading at $US0.8756/60, up 0.44 percent from Monday's end of $US0.8719/21.
Since its local close yesterday at 5pm, the Australian currency ranged from $US0.8702 to $US0.8760.
Wall Street rose in subdued trade ahead of the beginning of the second quarter earnings season in the US.
The Dow Jones Industrial closed 0.18 per cent higher. The broader-based Standard & Poor's 500 index ended 0.07 per cent up.
"It (the Australian currency) had a really weak session in Sydney, then had a strong offshore session in comparison," said Westpac New Zealand senior market strategist Imre Speizer from Wellington.
According to him, the announcement of Alcoa's second quarter earnings after the close of trade in New York underpinned the Australian unit.
The aluminium producer declared a net profit of $136 million in the June quarter, an about-face from a loss of $454 million in the corresponding period last year.
"The currency markets were looking at that as the main event on the day, and that has given it a little bit of a nudge."
Economic reports scheduled today include the National Australia Bank's monthly business survey for June and the Australian Bureau of Statistics' lending finance for May.
Mr Speizer predict the Australian currency to trade between $US0.8700 and $US0.8790 during today's offshore session.
"You are really going to have to wait until tonight to see how markets take the US earnings reports," he said.