Aust dollar closes higher The Australian dollar has closed firmer, climbing back towards 103 US cents and reaching multi-year highs against the yen and UK pound. The Australian dollar ended the local trading day on Tuesday at 102.83 US cents, up from Monday's local close of 102.18 US cents. The local unit moved in line with gains on Wall Street during overnight trading to open the domestic trading day at 0700 AEDT at 102.70 US cents. The currency then moved higher during the morning to reach an intra-day peak of 103.12 US cents just before 1300 AEDT. However, the rally could not be sustained, leaving the currency stuck within recent ranges against the US dollar. The Australian dollar reached 99.55 yen, the highest level in five years, while it touched a 28-year high against the UK currency at 69.16 pence. "There is certainly some demand for the Aussie dollar on the cross rates," OZForex head of corporate dealing Jim Vrondas said. It hasn't necessarily translated to any big positive move on the Aussie-US though. Mr Vrondas said demand for the Australian dollar against the yen and the pound reflected the Bank of Japan (BoJ) and Bank of England's measures to support their economies by putting downwards pressure on their respective currencies. "Both of those central banks have been quite active on that front," Mr Vrondas said. At 1700 AEDT, the Australian dollar was at 99.15 yen, up from 98.22 yen on Monday, and at 69.03 pence, from 68.47 pence previously. The local unit was at 78.93 euro cents, up from 78.60 euro cents. The Japanese government's nominee as the next BoJ deputy governor, Kikuo Iwata, told the upper house of the Japanese parliament on Tuesday he believed "bold monetary easing will be necessary for some time." Mr Vrondas said he expected the Australian dollar to trade within recent ranges ahead of the labour force report due from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Australian bond market closed weaker. The March 10-year bond futures contract ended Tuesday's local session at 96.400 (implying a yield of 3.6 per cent), down from Monday's local close of 96.445 (3.555 per cent). The March three-year bond futures contract finished at 96.980 (3.02 per cent), down from 97.025 (2.975 per cent) previously. The bulk of the move on the bond market came during the offshore session, with bonds stuck in a tight range throughout the local trading day. Commonwealth Bank interest rate strategist Phillip Brown said market players preferred not to trade in the days leading up to the rollover of the benchmark futures contracts. "You will have people trading stuff they always trade, but as a general rule you try and avoid these few days if you can," Mr Brown said.