$A slightly higher in volatile trade The Australian dollar is higher despite a small fall in late late morning trade on building approvals data. At 1200 AEST on Thursday, the local unit was trading at 90.87 US cents, up from 90.62 cents on Wednesday. Since 0700 AEST on Thursday, the Australian dollar traded between 90.73 US cents and 91.20 cents. Approvals for the construction of new homes fell 1.1 per cent in May and approvals for detached houses rose 2.5 per cent, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday. The Australian dollar dropped slightly after the data was released, Westpac senior currency strategist Sean Callow said. "It fell on the building approvals figures, which it shouldn't have, given that the figure matched consensus forecasts," he said. It's just a bit skittish right now there's not a lot of news flow. Mr Callow said weakness in the Chinese, Hong Kong and Japanese share markets could also be behind the late morning fall in the Australian dollar. He said markets are looking nervous in the countdown to the Bank of England (BoE) and European Central Bank interest rate decisions, to be made on Thursday night, Australian time. "It's being dragged down by regional sentiment," Mr Callow said. He expects the Australian dollar to trade in a range between 90.40 US cents and 91.20 cents on Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, Australian bond futures prices were lower. At 1200 AEST on Thursday, the September 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.210 (implying a yield of 3.790 per cent), down from 96.240 (3.760 per cent) on Wednesday. The September three-year bond futures contract was at 97.220 (2.780 per cent), down from 97.240 (2.760 per cent).