The Australian dollar has climbed after the release of better than expected manufacturing figures from China.

At 1200 AEDT on Tuesday, the local unit was trading at 92.88 US cents, up from 92.31 cents on Monday.

China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 50.3 in March, a better than expected reading of activity.

This pushed the Australian dollar higher, but gains were modest ahead of another reading of China’s manufacturing activity, and the Reserve Bank’s April cash rate decision, Easy Forex currency dealer Tony Darvall said.

“The Australian dollar is higher on the China data, it’s come in slightly higher,” Mr Darvall said.

“It’s hard for the market to make strong gains when there’s such a big announcement coming up, with the RBA in a couple of hours.

“You’ll probably see a bit of profit taking ahead of the RBA announcement and that’s the reason we’re not moving so much on the Chinese data.

“There is a chance the RBA could talk down the Aussie.”

Meanwhile, Australian bond futures prices were lower.

At 1200 AEDT on Tuesday, the June 2014 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 95.855 (implying a yield of 4.145 per cent), down from 95.910 (4.090 per cent) on Monday.

The June 2014 three-year bond futures contract was at 96.920 (3.080 per cent), down from 96.950 (3.050 per cent).

AAP