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SYDNEY - The Australian dollar has closed marginally lower, despite pushing above US$0.6500 in intraday trading thanks to a strong close on Wall Street.
At 1700 AEDT, the Australian dollar was trading at US$0.6444/49, down from Tuesday's close of US$0.6458/62.
During the day, the local unit moved between
a low of US$0.6427 and a high of US$0.6536.
The Australian dollar had opened local trading at 0700 AEDT weaker at US$0.6440/45, its lowest start to the local session since November 13.
A stronger finish on Wall Street - the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the New York session up 1.83 per cent at 0800 AEDT - helped spur demand for riskier assets and lifted the local unit to its intraday high.
However, the rally faltered soon after with the unit falling back towards US$0.6450 as the local stock market dropped back into the red after a positive start.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia currency strategist Joseph Capurso said the local currency suffered from a lack of direction and traded close to US$0.6450 for most of the afternoon.
"It's been pretty quiet in terms of currency movement," Mr Capurso said.
"Since about midday it's just been a slow grind down. There hasn't been too much data or events to push it."
Mr Capurso said a speech from Reserve Bank of Australia assistant governor of economics Malcolm Edey contained no real surprises.
Mr Capurso said the speech had little influence on currency markets and that expectations of a big rate cut from the central bank at its December meeting remained intact.
At 2035 AEDT, RBA governor Glenn Stevens is due to address the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) annual dinner in Melbourne on "the economic situation".
Direction during Wednesday night's (AEDT) offshore session is expected to come from US equity markets.
Mr Capurso said currency markets had been tied closely to stocks in recent times, with the recent equity market weakness pushing investors towards so-called safe haven currencies such as the Japanese yen and US dollar.
Economic data due during Wednesday night's (AEDT) offshore session includes the minutes of the US Federal Reserve's November meeting, as well as US inflation, housing and construction figures.
CURRENCY TABLE: Currency snapshot at 1700 AEDT
CURRENCY SPOT PREVIOUS CLOSE
AUD/USD 0.6444-49 0.6458-62
AUD/JPY 62.25-28 62.46-52
AUD/EUR 0.5103-10 0.5116-21
AUD/NZD 1.1736-51 1.1728-47
AUD/GBP 0.4308-15 0.4307-13
EUR/USD 1.2626-30 1.2621-25
USD/JPY 96.58-59 96.70-74
EUR/JPY 121.94-98 122.05-10
- AAP
