Dollar down despite strong data The currency peaked at US92.05c during the local session yesterday. Thinkstock. THE Australian dollar is lower despite getting a small boost from data showing a strong rise in construction activity. At 12pm AEDT today, the local unit was trading at 91.19 US cents, down from 91.86 cents yesterday. The amount of construction work done in Australia rose 2.7 per cent in the September quarter, official figures showed, which was stronger than market forecasts of a 0.5 per cent rise in the quarter. The Australian dollar hit at an intraday high of 91.32 US cents after the figures were released. Easy Forex currency dealer Tony Darvall said the construction work numbers bode well for the official September quarter capital expenditure (capex) figures, due out tomorrow. In recent days the Australian dollar has struggled to rise past 92 US cents and stay there, but he said better than expected business investment figures could change that. "Construction work is a pretty big part of capex and it might mean that tomorrow's bearish expectations are a little bit off," he said. They've been selling the Australian dollar quite aggressively and they haven't had a reason to refrain from the selling and a lot of the price action has encouraged more selling. If we're going to get some good data tomorrow, and there's been a lot of focus on this mining slowdown, then at these levels the ability of a sharp rise in the Aussie dollar could easily come about. At 12pm AEDT, today, the December 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 95.850 (implying a yield of 4.150 per cent), up from 95.820 (4.180 per cent) yesterday. The December three-year bond futures contract was at 96.950 (3.050 per cent), up from 96.910 (3.090 per cent).