AUD/USD hit 3-month bottom

The Australian dollar is again trading in red territory today, hitting a three-month low against USD, as the greenback found support after the crucial NFP release.

The AUD/USD returned to losses on Friday, paring all the previous gains and trading below the $0.70 handle.

The aussie was down 0.42% at $0.6982 against the greenback, after hitting an intraday low of $0.6966 - a level last seen in September.

The bullish sentiment towards the US dollar took center stage after strong American employment figures, which in return weakened the aussie.

American employers hired an additional 292,000 workers in December, blasting past the 200,000 increase markets had been anticipating, while the unemployment rate held at the post-recession low of 5% for a third month in a row.

Economists praised Friday’s job figures. "Wow, what a report. The consistent strength in job growth makes up for the apparent weakness in other economic data. It is the main reason the Federal Reserve has begun tightening policy and will continue to nudge rates up over the course of this year," James Marple, senior economist at TD Economics, said in a note.

"As long as job growth remains above trend, its bias will be toward tightening, albeit very gradually unless inflation rears its head," Marple added.

Also, markets digested Australian retail sales for November, which declined from an upwardly revised 0.6% to 0.4% month-on-month. Meanwhile in the previous session, the Australian trade deficit narrowed from 3.247 million AUD to 2.906 million AUD. Also, Australian building approvals plummeted from 3.3%to -12.7% month-on-month, with the yearly print also deteriorating sharply from12.6% to -8.4%.