The Australian dollar was almost one US cent lower on Wednesday as the US dollar strengthened after the release of positive American economic data. At 1700 AEDT on Wednesday, the local unit was trading at 100.18 US cents, down from 100.96 cents on Tuesday. Since 0700 AEDT on Wednesday, the Australian dollar traded between 100.13 cents and 100.73 cents. RBC Capital Markets currency strategist Michael Turner said the local unit lost ground as the US dollar strengthened. "There's not a huge amount of liquidity, but the general theme has been US dollar strength and the Aussie dollar has been lower as a result," Mr Turner said. "Futures have been sliding a little bit through Asia and that's dragged currencies lower. "The euro's lower, the Aussie's lower, pretty much in line with that." The Australian dollar had to contend with a slight firming in the US dollar following more positive economic data overnight. The Commerce Department reported factory orders rose 0.7 per cent following a decline in October, while most analysts had expected a fall of 0.3 per cent. Overnight, the gold price fell over two per cent, its biggest one-day drop since November and the benchmark oil price for February lost about three per cent. "We're a fairly long way off the highs from this year now, down from 102 US cents to just above parity," Mr Turner said. "Commodity prices have been drifting a bit lower so the Aussie, being a commodity currency, it's drifting a bit further down on that". Traders are looking to the release of US employment data for December on Friday night (AEDT) as a possible market direction setter.

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