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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

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The local housing market ended its second full year of the downturn in a worsening slump, with year-over-year sales in December falling 30 percent for the fourth month in a row.

In all, sales in the Baltimore metro area dropped about 20 percent last year, according to a Sun calculation of preliminary numbers from Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. That's a bigger decrease than the region saw in 2006. About 30,000 homes changed hands, the lowest in nine years - which is when MRIS began tracking area sales through the multiple-listing service.

The average price still managed a gain over the previous year, but the increase of nearly 2.5 percent was the smallest on record. With large numbers of unsold homes competing for attention and mortgages harder to come by, economists warn that 2008 could be a year of falling prices here and nationwide even if demand picks up. read more

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Inflation is tipped to be the main topic of discussion when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan meet Reserve Bank officials today.

Mr Rudd and his Government have put tackling inflation as one of the key priorities of the new year.

Federal efforts to cut spending are likely to be one of the main topics of today's talks.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is slashing its budget by $57 million, with a number of overseas diplomats to be recalled and programs to promote Australian culture overseas being cut to fund the savings.

The Federal Government says it does not believe the changes will affect its foreign policy priorities.

Mr Rudd says the talks will look at the challenges posed by higher inflation and will help shape the Federal Government's future economic policy. read more