Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Australia’s dollar pared an earlier decline after a report showed a preliminary reading of 49 for an index of Chinese manufacturing for December compared with a final number of 47.7 for November.

The currency traded at 98.95 cents at 1:36 p.m. in Sydney from 98.85 cents before the data was released and 99.10 cents in New York yesterday.

China is Australia’s largest trading partner.

To contact the reporter on this story: Benjamin Purvis in Sydney at bpurvis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Garfield Reynolds at greynolds1@bloomberg.net