Australian dollar tumbled to March 2009 lows in Asian trade against its US counterpart, ahead of US labor and manufacturing data later today.
As of 04:48 GMT, AUD/USD fell 0.62% to 0.6942, with an intraday high at 0.6986, and the lowest in a decade at 0.6741.
Now investors await US private sector employment data, expected to show 179 thousand new jobs last month, same as November.
US unemployment claims are estimated with a 4 thousand increase in the week ending December 29 to 220 thousand, while continuing claims are expected with a 12K drop to 1.689 million in the week ending December 22.
The ISM manufacturing PMI is expected with a decline to 57.7 from 59.3, while ISM manufacturing prices are expected to have declined to 57.9 in December from 60.7.