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RBA helps $A from following stocks lower

The Australian dollar is staying near its two-week highs, as a stable interest rate outlook helps keep the currency well supported.

At 1200 AEDT on Wednesday, the local unit was trading at 88.16 US cents, up from 87.72 cents on Tuesday.

Early on Wednesday morning, it peaked at 88.34 US cents, its highest level since September 25.

The Reserve Bank, after its board meeting on Tuesday, maintained its stance that its interest rate would remain on hold for some time to come.

Western Union Business Solutions currency strategist Steven Dooley said the Australian dollar had proven resilient against significant falls on Australian, US and European share markets.

The falls came after the International Monetary Fund lowered its global economic growth forecasts for 2014.

"Typically, over the last 10 years, a selldown in the Dow Jones Index would have resulted in a much weaker Australian dollar, but we're definitely in a different environment at the moment," he said.

"It just goes back to the fact that the only theme that markets care about at the moment is the US dollar and it's being traded almost like a risk currency now.

"So, during times of positivity, the US dollar goes up; during times of gloom the US dollar goes down."

Mr Dooley said markets were waiting for the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting, which are due out early on Thursday morning, Australian time.

"It will be interesting if they add any colour to their projections that their interest rates could be somewhere between 1.2 per cent and 1.5 per cent at the end of 2015," Mr Dooley said.

Australian jobs figures for September, due out late on Thursday morning, are expected to show a fall in the number of people employed after an outsized gain of 121,000 in August.

Meanwhile, the Australian bond market was firmer at noon.

At 1200 AEDT on Wednesday, the December 2014 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.620 (implying a yield of 3.380 per cent), up from 96.575 (3.425 per cent) on Tuesday.

The December 2014 three-year bond futures contract was at 97.330 (2.670 per cent), up from 97.310 (2.690 per cent).