At 4pm (AEDT), the local unit was trading at US81.84 cents, up from US81.35c yesterday.

US Fed chair Janet Yellen told a media conference yesterday that the US central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee didn’t anticipate raising rates “for at least the next couple of meetings”.

Westpac senior currency strategist Sean Callow said the US dollar had a mixed performance against most major currencies after rallying yesterday, which allowed the Aussie dollar to gain some ground.

“The Australian dollar bounced from US81.20 cents to US82 cents but then pulled back to US81.70 cents,” he said.

“Equity markets continued to rally strongly in response to the Feds patience on interest rates.”

AAP