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THE Australian dollar was lower at noon in a slide which started on Friday on the back of poor US jobs data.

At 12noon (AEDT), the Australian dollar was trading at $US0.8733/35, down from Friday's close of $US0.8811/16.

During the morning, the domestic currency traded between a low of $US0.8705 and a high of $US0.8740.

The Australian dollar lost ground on Friday night when US non-farm payrolls showed the country added 18,000 jobs in December, the weakest jobs growth in more than four years and well below market expectations of a 70,000 increase.

In more bad news, unemployment hit 5 per cent in December, in a sign US economic woes were beginning to widen beyond the sub-prime housing crisis and tight credit markets.

After bottoming out to $US0.8705 shortly after 7am AEDT, the Australian dollar lifted in line with the rising price of precious metals, according to CMC Markets FX dealer Tim Waterer. read more