$A higher on strong Chinese economic data December 11, 2013 - 7:24AM The Australian dollar is higher on the back of US dollar weakness and strong economic data out of China. At 0700 AEDT on Wednesday, the local unit was trading at 91.55 US cents, up from 91.03 cents on Tuesday. China's industrial output, which measures production at factories, workshops and mines, rose 10.0 per cent in November year-on-year, according to official figures, while retail sales increased 13.7 per cent in November from the previous year. The strong figures, combined with US dollar weakness in the wake of last week's payrolls data and in the absence of any other major economic releases, helped the Aussie dollar higher, Bank of New Zealand strategist Kymberly Martin said. "The Chinese data certainly helps ensuring general sentiment but having said that, it was in line with expectation," Ms Martin said. More broadly, the US dollar was a bit weaker so the Australian dollar was a beneficiary of that.