The Australian dollar is lower against its US counterpart which has risen in the offshore session as fears over North Korea fade.

At 0635 AEST on Tuesday, the Australian dollar was worth 78.53 US cents, down from 78.69 US cents on Monday.

Westpac’s Imre Speizer said equities and US bond yields had lifted amid fading concern over North Korea and the US dollar had followed suit with the US dollar index, a measure of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, up 0.4 per cent.

“The US dollar also gained, hurting AUD/USD and NZD/USD,” he said in a morning note.

The major local risk event on Tuesday would be July’s new vehicle sales data and the Reserve Bank of Australia’s minutes of its August board meeting.

“The RBA minutes are likely to reflect the recently communicated SoMP and Governor (Philip) Lowe’s parliamentary testimony (of last week),” Mr Speizer said.

“The (Australian dollar’s) 0.7840 area is vulnerable to a downside break if the US dollar extends last night’s gains.”

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

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