The Australian dollar inched up to near recent peaks on Friday, aided by better appetite for higher-yielding currencies and by expectations firm commodity prices will continue to help the country's terms of trade. Data released on Friday showed the value of Australia's exports jumping 3.5 percent last quarter, buoyed by the continuing resources boom.
The Aussie was at $0.9390/92 against the US dollar, higher than $0.9375/80 late on Thursday. It had risen to a four-week high of $0.9402 on Wednesday, helped by growing risk appetite and robust commodity prices.
The Aussie advanced to one-month highs against the yen, rising to as high as 96.20 yen as investors returned to riskier carry trades, confident that the worst in the US financial sector was possibly over. Analysts said the Aussie could face some headwinds around 94 US cents ahead of key first-quarter consumer price figures due out next week.