DateOctober 11, 2012 - 11:51AM .The Australian dollar climbed nearly half a US cent after official figures showed a large rise in the national unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate rose to 5.4 per cent in September, from 5.1 per cent in August, The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said.

That was despite 14,500 jobs being added to the economy in the month, compared to the 5,000 that economists were expecting.

Economists had expected the jobless rate to rise to 5.2 per cent.

Advertisement The Australian dollar was at $US102.65, up from $US102.24, just before the data was released.

The currency remained relatively strong on Wednesday night, trading between $US1.0219 and $US1.0259, despite weakness on stock markets.

London's FTSE 100 dropped 0.58 per cent while Frankfurt's DAX 30 finished 0.41 per cent lower and New York's Dow Jones closed 0.95 per cent lower.

LTG GoldRock director Andrew Barnett said the Australian dollar had found a support level after falling around three cents last week.

"It has been pretty range-bound for the past couple of days. It hasn't done a whole lot," he said.