Housing and business activity data from the largest economy in the world provided the impetus for the Australian dollar to open slightly higher than Tuesday.

The local currency was trading at 89.04 US cents which is higher than yesterday's close of 88.93 US cents. The Aussie buck was also buying 74.94 yen, 57.99 pence, and 70.19 euro cents.

Overnight, US economic data reflected an increase in consumer confidence in August. House prices were also high in June, but a separate report showed a meager growth in business activity in the US Midwest last month. The data were more than economist had expected for August.

Moreover, the minutes of the US Federal Open Market Committee's August 10 meeting revealed the committee would consider doing more to purchase government debt in order to lift the US economy.

Westpac New Zealand senior market strategist Imre Speizer said, “So it was a mixed bag, but the ones the market looked at closely were a little bit better.”

Speizer considers the release of the Australian national accounts data as a catalyst for the local unit on Wednesday. The data to be released at 11:30 a.m. includes the Gross Domestic Product.

The senior strategist forecasts a trading between 88.5 and 89.5 US cents for the local currency today. The local dollar traded between 88.61 and 89.19 US cents on Tuesday.