The Australian dollar opened low on Thursday after soaring high and hitting $US 95.8 yesterday.

The local currency was trading at $US 95.59 cents. The figure is slightly lower than Wednesday's close of $US 95.64 cents.

The local unit traded between $US 95.92 cents and $US 95.19 cents since Tuesday. Economic concerns in the US have kept the Australian dollar within its high marks.

According to Southern Cross equities director Charlie Aitken, “people are watching the Aussie dollar” before making investments. He stressed that “there's clearly capital flowing into Australia and equities need to catch up to the Australian dollar.”

“We have broken into a new range of 4600 to 5000, and short covering has started on the banks because they (offshore hedge funds) are getting killed on the Aussie dollar.”

The Australia dollar can buy the British pound at $AU 1.6348, the Euro at $AU 1.3983, and the Canadian dollar at $AU 1.0223. It could be exchanged with a unit of the Chinese Yuan for $AU 0.1559 cents, the Hong Kong dollar for $AU 0.1348 cents, and the Japanese Yen for 0.0123 cent.

The New Zealand Kiwi is worth $AU 0.7716 cents. Against the Singapore dollar, the local unit is equivalent to $AU 0.7892 cents.