The Australian dollar closed weaker on Thursday after the nation recorded its largest trade deficit in 10 months.
At the local close, the dollar was trading at $US0.8028, down from Wednesday's close of $US0.8062.
During the local session, the unit moved between $US0.8095 and $US0.8030.
HiFX senior consultant Derek Mumford said the buyers sold out of the local currency after the publication of worse than expected balance of goods and services data.
The trade deficit of $556 million, seasonally adjusted, was posted in May compared with a downwardly revised deficit of $282 million in April, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed.
Economists were expecting deficit of $125 million for May.
It was the widest trade deficit since July 2008 when the figure was $1.1 billion.
"The Aussie is very much trading in a tight range, and has been for quite a while now and these figures do cause small adjustments but it's nothing major,'' Mr Mumford said.
The Australian dollar was trading around $US0.8077 just before the release of the trade data, slipping to $US0.8057 two minutes later.
The data showed that during May, exports fell 5.0 per cent in adjusted terms, while imports were down 4.0 per cent.
It was the second consecutive month Australia has posted a trade deficit, following eights months of surpluses.
Mr Mumford said the local unit was in a holding pattern ahead of key US data due to be published during the offshore session.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to publish its non-farm payroll data at 2330 AEST on Thursday.
The report is a measure of people who have jobs in the US.
The median market forecast is for unemployment to have risen by 363,000 in the month, up from 345,000 in May.
"It could see a major adjustment of the Aussie,'' Mr Mumford said. "If it's worse than expected, you could see a challenge to a low 79 US cent figure.''
AAP
