$A higher after Stevens' comments The Australian dollar is three quarters of a US cent higher following Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens' appearance before a federal parliamentary committee. At 1700 AEDT on Friday, the currency was trading at 103.13 US cents, up from 102.35 cents on Thursday. OxForex chief currency strategist Jim Vrondas said the Australian dollar moved high during Mr Stevens' six-monthly appearance before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics. "Those comments were somewhat upbeat about the economy, so we saw a pretty immediate reaction," he said. He said Mr Stevens' testimony had reduced the market's expectation the central bank would cut the cash rate further in the next few months. "In particular the comments about having a good deal of interest rate stimulus already in the pipeline, that's the main bit that gave the market a bit of positive sentiment towards the currency," Mr Vrondas said. The RBA cut the cash rate 1.75 percentage points between November 2011 and December 2012. Mr Vrondas said the currency was unlikely to rise above 103.50-104.00 US cents, and could move lower overnight on Friday. "I'd be surprised to see it trade much higher from where we are now," he said. At 1700 AEDT, the Australian dollar was trading at 96.19 Japanese yen, up from 95.63 Japanese yen and at 78.08 euro cents, up from 77.30 euro cents. Meanwhile, Australian three-year bond futures weakened following Mr Stevens' comments. At 1630 AEDT on Friday, the March 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.485 (implying a yield of 3.515 per cent), unchanged from Thursday. The March three-year bond futures contract was at 97.100 (2.900 per cent), down from 97.130 (2.870 per cent). We sold off on the back of Stevens. We've had a bit of a rally over the past few sessions, so it was enough to see futures drift off," RBC Capital Markets fixed income strategist Michael Turner said.