At 1200 AEDT on Tuesday, the local unit was trading at 90.88 US cents, slightly down from 90.90 cents on Monday. The Australian dollar managed to rally above 91 US cents this week, despite strong US data showing that the jobless rate fall sharply to a five-year low of 7.0 per cent in November.
The good data increases the chance the US Federal Reserve will begin winding back its stimulus soon. That should have put pressure on the Australian dollar but instead it held strong, Westpac senior currency trategist Sean Callow said.
"The Australian dollar is consolidating and it looks pretty comfortable around the 91 US cent area," Mr Callow said.
"It softened a bit this morning but for no apparent reason.
"The big picture is that it survived the strong US jobs data much better than expected.
"Buyers do seem to lurk underneath 90 US cents but it doesn't seem to be sufficiently compelling for people to want to buy it right now.
"So, for the time being, it's just stable." At 1200 AEDT on Tuesday, the December 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 95.665 (implying a yield of 4.335 per cent), down from 95.690 (4.310 per cent) on Monday.
The December three-year bond futures contract was at 96.865 (3.135 per cent), down from 96.890 (3.110 per cent).
