Since March, as investors became more optimistic about the global outlook, the $A has clocked the fastest rise in its post-float history, soaring nearly 30 per cent from US63.49¢ to a peak above US82¢.

According to The Australian Financial Review, it's been a remarkable recovery for the currency which was mowed down in its most precipitous retreat since the 1980s at the worst of the financial crisis.

"If anyone told you in advance we would have a year like we have just had, you would have called them crazy," Westpac Banking chief strategist of global markets group Robert Rennie says.

In the year ahead, the major banks see strong prospects for the $A rising further, as it is buoyed by increasing Asian demand for commodities and a continuing decline in its US counterpart.