The Australian dollar is lower against its US counterpart despite the greenback continuing its fall begun following the Federal Reserve’s quarter of a per cent interest rate lift and dropping to a five-week low.

At 0635 AEDT on Friday, the Australian dollar was worth 76.69 US cents, down from 76.89 US cents on Thursday.

Westpac’s Imre Speizer says he expects the Aussie dollar to head down to around 74.00 US cents now that the Federal Reserve has begun to tightening monetary policy.

“The Fed’s assertive tightening bias plus US fiscal expansion should maintain upside pressure on US interest rates and the US dollar,” he said in a note on Friday.

“Against that coal and iron ore are likely to sustain a good portion of their dramatic rises, and economic data for Q4 and Q1 should improve, but these forces are subservient to the US dollar’s trend.”

The local currency is also lower against the yen and the euro.

AAP

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