The Australian dollar is lower after gains in its US counterpart offset positive local retail and building approvals figures.

At 1200 AEDT on Thursday, the currency was trading at 89.06 US cents, down from 89.25 cents on Wednesday.

The Aussie dropped as low as 88.83 cents during the morning session after the release of some good US employment data and the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s December policy helped strengthen the US dollar.

But it regained some ground following the release of stronger domestic retail sales and building approvals figures.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed that retail sales in November rose 0.7 per cent, a bigger lift than the market’s 0.4 per cent forecast.

The ABS also said building approvals fell 1.5 per cent across Australia in November, but were up 22.2 per cent compared to a year earlier.

Rochford Capital senior consultant Derek Mumford said the building approvals helped the Australian dollar.

“Year on year, the building approvals were quite strong and that helped relieve a bit of pressure in the Aussie dollar,” he said.

But, he said, the Australian dollar could resume its downward movement during the afternoon.

“It would appear that there are still a lot of sellers looking to short the Aussie dollar.”

Meanwhile, Australian bond futures prices were weaker at noon.

At 1200 AEDT on Thursday, the March 2014 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 95.705 (implying a yield of 4.295 per cent), down from 95.745 (4.255 per cent) on Wednesday.

The March 2014 three-year bond futures contract was at 96.890 (3.110 per cent), down from 96.960 (3.040 per cent).