The Australian dollar opened below $US0.9200 on Friday as sinking commodity prices and weak equity markets saw investors wade into the safe-haven US dollar. 

At 0700 AEDT, the Australian dollar was trading at $US0.9189/90, down from Thursday's close of $US0.9290/95.

During the offshore session, the local unit traded between $US0.9253 and $US0.9138.

Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Mike Jones described Thursday's offshore session as a rough night for the Australian dollar.

"There was a paring back of risk appetite which benefited the US dollar," Jones said.

"We saw most of the major currencies come off, but the Aussie and the Kiwi were affected most because we had falls in commodity prices."

The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies index of 19 commodity prices was down 1.25 per cent to 274.05 points at 0651 AEDT.

The local dollar is a commodity or risk sensitive unit and trades in line with commodity prices.

The US dollar rose during offshore trade, with the Japanese Yen buying 88.99 US cents, down from 89.11 at Thursday's local close.

Meanwhile, the euro was steady with Thursday's close, buying 1.4917 US dollars.

Jones said the unit was under pressure also from sagging US equity markets and uninspiring American economic data.

By mid-afternoon, the Dow had fallen 1.11 per cent to 10,310.45 points, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 1.54 per cent to 1,092.66 points.

The number of American workers applying for jobless insurance was unchanged from last week at 502,000, the US Labor Department said overnight.

The median market forecast had been for the jobless rate to have climbed to 504,000.

"The US data wasn't too bad. It was more or less in line with expectations," Jones said.

With no domestic data scheduled for release during the local session, Jones predicted the Australian dollar would drift slightly higher during Friday's domestic session.

©2009AAP