SYDNEY, May 30 (Xinhua) -- The Australian dollar began the day higher on Tuesday, with volatility limited due to major U.S. and British markets celebrating a public holiday.
At the Asian open, one Australian dollar was buying 74.40 U.S. cents, up slightly from the 74.30 U.S. cents it was trading on late Monday.
The April building approvals report due at 1130 local time AEST on Tuesday could impact the dollar, according to senior currency strategist at the Commonwealth Bank, Elias Haddad, who told Xinhua in a statement that he is forecasting a 5 percent increase in approvals after the 13 percent fall in March.
"We expect the volatile multi-unit series to post a solid bounce following last month's 22 percent fall. In trend terms, we expect approvals to cool a little this year." Haddad said.
Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG predicts a 3 percent rise in building approvals, but does not expect much movement for the local currency, with the other majors closed for the public holiday.
"The Australian and U.S. currency has traded in a 23-point range overnight and with the U.S. fixed income market closed, there really has been no real impetus for price to move," Weston said.
"Building approvals, unless they absolutely collapse, should not cause more than five to ten point move at most."
At 0830 local time AEST, one Australian dollar is buying 74.38 U.S. cents, while crude oil is trading at 50.00 U.S. dollars per barrel.
