The Australian dollar has bounced back from a six-year low after the greenback fell amid a lengthy outage on the New York Stock Exchange.

At 0700 AEST on Thursday, the currency was trading at 74.26 US cents, up from 73.84 cents on Wednesday.

Overnight, the NYSE shut down for more than three-and-a-half hours due to an “internal technical issue”, while the US dollar slumped on concerns about Greece and further heavy losses in China’s equities.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index on Wednesday closed down 5.90 per cent with a Chinese securities official decrying “panic and irrational” selling.

Chinese stocks have dropped more than 30 per cent since mid-June, and BK Asset Management managing director Kathy Lien says the meltdown has global repercussions.

“(The Aussie) lost over three cents in the past two weeks to fall to its weakest level in six years,” she said.

“(It) could also see further losses if (Thursday’s) employment report surprises to the downside.”

Australian job figures for June are expected to show that the unemployment rate rose to 6.1 per cent in June from six per cent in May.

Westpac strategist Imre Speizer tipped the selloff of the local currency to remain intact on Thursday, saying it should fall below 73.70 US cents during the next few days.

AAP