The Australian dollar is sharply down against its US counterpart which has gained following the European Central Bank’s tapering announcement.

At 0635 AEDT on Friday, the Australian dollar was worth 76.60 US cents, down from 77.09 US cents on Thursday.

Westpac’s Imre Speizer says the US dollar rose – while the euro slumped – after the ECB, as expected, said it would halve its 60 billion euros a month asset-purchase program and the central bank’s governor, Mario Draghi issued a dovish statement.

“The main message was that while the economic outlook has improved considerably and the ECB is increasingly optimistic on developments in the areas of investment and in particular job creation, it still considers that this depends on ongoing stimulus,” Speizer said in a Friday morning note.

“The US dollar index is up 0.9 per cent on the day … (while the) AUD fell from 0.7720 to 0.7666 – a three-month low.”

He said he expected the local currency to continue its fall against the US dollar.

“The next target is 0.7635 – the June high – if the USD rally continues.”

The Aussie dollar is also lower against the yen but is higher against the euro which fell sharply after the European Central Bank’s dovish tapering announcement that also boosted the US dollar.

AAP

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