The Australian dollar has climbed after the release of better than expected manufacturing figures from China.

At midday Tuesday, the local unit was trading at 92.88 US cents, up from 92.31 cents on Monday.

China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 50.3 in March, a better than expected reading of activity.

This pushed the Australian dollar higher, but gains were modest ahead of another reading of China’s manufacturing activity, and the Reserve Bank’s April cash rate decision, Easy Forex currency dealer Tony Darvall said.

“The Australian dollar is higher on the China data, it’s come in slightly higher,” Mr Darvall said.

“It’s hard for the market to make strong gains when there’s such a big announcement coming up, with the RBA in a couple of hours.

“You’ll probably see a bit of profit taking ahead of the RBA announcement and that’s the reason we’re not moving so much on the Chinese data.

“There is a chance the RBA could talk down the Aussie.”

Meanwhile, Australian bond futures prices were lower.