By a staff reporter, with AAP The Australian dollar made modest gains against the greenback to edge above parity in late trade, after a raft of Chinese data met expectations, showing signs of increasing activity. At 1713 AEST the Australian dollar fetched $US1.0004, after dipping as low as 99.66 US cents earlier in trade. It touched an intra-day high after 1700 AEST of US$1.0016. The return to parity comes after it fell below parity with the greenback for the first time in 11 months to 99.61 US cents on Friday. IG market analyst Chris Weston said the Federal budget could be the next bearish catalyst for the local currency. "Of course the high United States dollar will take most of the criticism and perhaps that will change going forward because the AUD is looking vulnerable against a whole host of G10 currencies right now," he said. "Namely the US dollar, British pound, euro and New Zealand dollar. Downside should be limited to 0.9860/70 though." CMC Markets foreign exchange dealer Tim Waterer said the Australian dollar's weakness continued this morning after reports the Federal Reserve would wind back its quantitative easing policy of buying US Treasury bonds. "It's a general theme of a dominate US dollar," he said. The Australian dollar remained below the 100 US cent mark during most of Monday's local session. Rochford Capital senior consultant Derek Mumford said news of a 5.2 per cent jump in Australian home loans in March, a better than expected result, had been largely ignored by the market which was more focused on the global economy and signs of improvement in the US. He said the Australian dollar could moved higher in the next few days but said it was unlikely to move above 101.50 US cents.

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