The Australian dollar has ended the local trading day a touch lower, after market players were disappointed by a speech from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.
At 5pm AEDT, the Australian dollar was trading at 105.48 US cents, down from Monday's local close of 105.56 US cents.
During the day, the local currency moved between a low of 105.41 US cents and a high of 105.70 US cents.
The Australian dollar opened the local trading day at 7am AEDT at 105.64 US cents, ahead of a speech from Dr Bernanke.
The market was hoping to hear more from Dr Bernanke about the US central bank's quantitative easing, or economic stimulus, program.
However, there was little new in the Federal Reserve chairman's remarks - he started speaking at 8am AEDT - leaving the market disappointed.
"It turned out to be a bit of a fizzer," ForexCT head of research Steven Dooley said.
"There were expectations that we might see a big move today in the markets but in actuality we didn't see much at all."
And with little else to offer direction, the Australian dollar drifted along in quiet trading conditions for the rest of the local session.
Despite the slightly weaker day, Mr Dooley said there continued to be good support for the Australian dollar.
Mr Dooley said the currency could potentially break through 106 US cents this week on the back of strong November jobs data due on Thursday and Chinese economic growth figures to come out on Friday.
"The Aussie dollar has definitely got an upward bias to it," Mr Dooley said.
The Australian dollar tested the 106 US cent level last week after reaching near four-month highs amid a stronger gold price, a rally on equity markets and positive comments from the European Central Bank.
Meanwhile, the yen was higher today after a Japanese government minister said a stronger yen was adversely impacting on the livelihoods of the Japanese people.
At 5pm, the Australian dollar was at 93.87 yen, down 0.8 per cent from 94.59 yen previously.
Source:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/markets/aussie-slips-but-finds-support/story-e6frg94o-1226554556978
