Dollar down after hopeful US jobs data

THE Australian dollar was lower today, after better than expected US employment data brought investors back into the US dollar.

THE Australian dollar was lower today, after better than expected US employment data brought investors back into the US dollar.

At 7am AEDT, the local unit was trading at 100.41 US cents, down from 100.69 cents on Wednesday.

Since 5pm AEDT yesterday, the Australian dollar traded between 100.10 US cents and 101.74 cents.

Commonwealth Bank vice president of institutional banking and markets, Tim Kelleher, said the unit lagged following weak domestic employment figures yesterday (AEDT).

Contrasting figures in the US made its currency attractive to investors, Mr Kelleher said.

"It was a bit of a double whammy," he said.

"Certainly, the US data was a lot stronger... the Aussie data was worse than expected."

Australia's jobless rate stayed at 5.0 per cent in January while total employment rose by 24,000.

Only 8000 of those were full time employed, however.

In contrast, the number of people claiming unemployment benefit in the US dropped to a two year low February

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 383,000 in the week ending February 5, down nearly nine per cent from the prior week.

The department revised upward the previous week's reading to 419,000, from an initial estimate of 415,000.

Mr Kelleher said with no major economic data due today, he expected the unit to be move in step with share markets for the rest of the local session.