Aussie dollar to fall further

THE Australian dollar is down against its US counterpart, back below 76 US cents even though the greenback has also fallen.

THE Australian dollar is down against its US counterpart, back below 76 US cents even though the greenback has also fallen after a round of weaker-than-expected US employment data.

At 0635 AEST on Friday, the Australian dollar was worth 75.84 US cents, down from 76.00 US cents on Thursday.

Westpac’s Imre Speizer said comments by European Central Bank officials had little impact on market expectations of a near-term shift in the policy stance. “The ECB minutes confirmed that pressure to remove the easing bias had increased with positive survey data and the broadening and strengthening of growth,” Mr Speizer said in a Friday morning note.

Meanwhile, in the US, private sector payrolls lifted by 150,000 in June, less than the 230,000 positions created in May and less than the expected 185,000-188,000 In a separate report, the US Labour Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 4,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 248,000 for the week ended July 1 — the third straight weekly increase in claims. Mr Speizer said the US dollar index shed 0.5 per cent on the day. “AUD slipped from 0.7615 to 0.7578,” Mr Speizer said.

Mr Speizer expected the Aussie dollar to fall further on Friday. “(There’ll be) some support around 0.7570 today, ahead of the major risk event — US payrolls tonight.” The local currency is also lower against the yen and the euro.

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 0635 AEST ON FRIDAY

One Australian dollar buys:

* 75.84 US cents, from 76.00 on Thursday

* 85.86 Japanese yen, from 85.99 yen

* 66.39 euro cents, from 67.00 euro cents

(*Currency closes taken at 1700 AEST previous local session)

Originally published as Aussie dollar to fall further