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The Australian dollar was slightly higher, despite a big fall in the afternoon after the release of Chinese trade data and proposed mining tax legislation.
The Australian dollar was recently trading at 106.06 US cents, up from 105.89 US cents on Thursday.
Since 7am AEST, the local unit traded between 105.86 US cents and 106.52 cents.
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During the afternoon, China said its trade surplus expanded to $US13.05 billion (A12.34 billion) in May from the previous month, which was below the $US19 billion expected by the market.
CMC Markets foreign exchange dealer Tim Waterer said the Australian dollar started to fall after the Chinese trade numbers were released early in the afternoon.
"The Aussie dollar started off the day in positive fashion, passing 106.50 by mid-morning, however it wilted by over half a US cent in afternoon trade," he said.
"It was mainly due to the fact that Chinese trade data came in short of expectations, that took the wind out of the sails of most of the Asian markets in terms of currencies and stocks.
The Australian federal government released draft legislation proposing a 30 per cent minerals resource rent tax (MRRT).
"The negative connotations for commodity currencies associated with that saw the Aussie dollar drift under 106.00 US cents," Mr Waterer said.
He said in the absence of any significant data, direction for the Australian dollar would be provided by movements in commodity prices and US equities, which staged a recovery on Thursday night.
The RBA's trade weighted index was at 76.8, up from 76.6 on Thursday.
