The Australian dollar nudged up off session lows against the US currency on Friday, supported by more robust domestic economic data and gains against the yen after soft Japanese machinery orders.
The Aussie reached $0.8444, recovering most of its offshore losses, when it had fallen about 1 percent on a bout of risk aversion as concerns about global inflation triggered a steep decline on Wall Street.
Strong jobs data on Thursday had taken the Aussie as high as $0.8477, its strongest since February 1989, before it retreated to a low of $0.8387 in New York trade. Analysts said the 2.2 percent rise in April housing finance, just above expectations of a 2 percent gain, showed resilient demand in Australia despite three interest rate rises last year.