$A low as market winds down for Christmas December 24, 2013 - 12:23PM The Australian dollar has fallen as the currency consolidates after recent gains and investors prepare for the Christmas holiday. At 1200 AEDT on Tuesday, the Australian dollar was trading at 89.19 US cents, down from 89.42 cents on Monday. The Australian dollar fell as low as 88.21 US cents last week, a three-and-a-half-year low, after the US Federal Reserve announced it would begin tapering its bond buying program in January. That decision boosted the greenback. But the Australian dollar began regaining some ground this week as the US dollar lost some of its strength. "Essentially, the Australian dollar is consolidating the bounce it had on Friday night in New York where it moved away from the danger zone of further losses and fresh lows," Westpac senior currency strategist Sean Callow said. It's keeping some distance from those three-year lows, partly because the US dollar is not as strong as might have been expected in the wake of the Fed's decision to reduce quantitative easing and the stronger-than-expected US gross domestic product reading on Friday. It looks as though investors are a bit luke warm on the US dollar. Mr Callow said the Australian dollar was not expected to move significantly over the next day or two, as investors break for the Christmas holiday. Australian bond futures prices were mixed. At 1200 AEDT on Tuesday, the March 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 95.800 (implying a yield of 4.200 per cent), up from 95.780 (4.220 per cent) on Monday.