It wasn't surprising that the Australian dollar regained parity with the greenback yesterday afternoon, as reports from Japan on the continuing nuclear power station crisis improved.

The dollar rose from 99.59 USc at the close in New York early Saturday to around $US1.1019 yesterday in local trading.

All the doom and gloom reports in the media and from some analysts disappeared as well as the currency rose.

As well there is more positive news from the clean up of the extensive damage caused by the quake and tsunami, even though around 22,000 people are now known to have died or are missing.

The fears have eased about the potential fallout from the