PERTH: The Australian dollar is lower despite a modest rise on solid retail spending figures.
At 12.00pm (AEST) on Friday, the local unit was trading at US70.45 cents, down from US70.64 cents on Thursday.
The Aussie gained some ground after official figures showed retail spending rose 0.4 per cent in August, in line with market expectations.
However, the local currency has been weighed down by caution ahead of the release of US employment data on Friday night, which may influence the timing of a Federal Reserve rate hike.
