Aussie dollar continues to fall

Financial and commodity markets analytics

The Australian dollar has continued its downward spiral in late trading today, following on from yesterday’s tumble after a hawkish stance from the US Federal Reserve.

At 6.40pm (GMT) the Aussie dollar was trading at US73.60c down from US74.03c in yesterday’s trading.

The Australian dollar initially began to fall yesterday after the Fed expectedly raised rates but it was the following monetary statement that caught investors of guard.

US Federal Reserve President Janet Yellen noted in her speech that the central bank is poised to lift rates 3 times next year which was more than analysts expected, and as a result the Australian dollar accelerated its losses.

"Every analyst was picking that the Fed would hike, so that was absolutely no surprise, but what was a little bit more illuminating was the change in their forecast for the Fed funds rate in 2017," said NAB senior economist David de Garis.

Strong employment numbers out of Australia today may have saved the Aussie dollar from further and pain, with the local economy creating 39,100 new jobs of which most were full time.

The unemployment rate, although below expectations, also came in strongly hitting the market at a healthy 5.7 percent.

The news may take some pressure off the RBA to cut rates in the nearest future.

"The leap in employment provides further evidence that the fall in GDP in the third quarter was a blip rather than anything more worrying," said Capital Economics economist Paul Dales.