The Australian currency opened higher after more disappointing US data was released ahead of important US jobs figures.

At 7am AEST on Friday, the local unit was trading at $US0.9161/66, an increase of 0.2 per cent from yesterday's finish of $US0.9142/44.

Since 5pm AEST, the Aussie ranged from $US0.9117 to $US0.9163.

The domestic currency mostly travelled sideways, "in line with gyrations of the US dollar,"according to Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Mike Jones.

"For the most part it was a relatively unexciting night with the big US non-farm payrolls looming tonight."

"So I think investors are reasonably content to sit on the sidelines," he said.

A US Labor Department report issued overnight indicated initial jobless benefit claims rose 4.1 per cent to 479,000 in the week to July 31, when most analysts had expected claims to slump to 455,000.

"The jobless claims were a little bit softer than expected and that really added to the general disappointing tone of US data," Mr Jones said.

"We did see the US dollar weaken slightly on those numbers, which led to the high for the Aussie, but later in the session it was really about squaring up short US dollar positions going into tonight's payrolls numbers."

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announces its quarterly statement of monetary policy at 1130am AEST on Friday.

"Certainly, traders will be looking for any hint of tightening bias from the RBA," Mr Jones said.

The key US government non-farm payrolls report will be issued later today, with most economists foreseeing already high unemployment going up further as companies stay hesitant to employ in large numbers.

"Looking ahead, these are a couple of key tests for the Australian dollar," Mr Jones said.

He predicts the Aussie to trade between US$0.9120 and US$0.9190.