$A down against stronger US dollar Weaker-than-expected domestic economic data has helped push the Australian dollar lower against its US counterpart At 1200 AEDT on Monday, the currency was trading at 101.89 US cents, down from 102.36 US cents on Friday. Easy Forex senior dealer Francisco Solar said the Australian dollar lost ground over the weekend after improved US manufacturing and consumer confidence data boosted the greenback. "It's pretty much tracking other currencies lower against the US dollar," he said. In the past, strong US data would cause a rally in the Aussie, now it looks like it's causing a rally in the US dollar itself. Mr Solar said weaker Australian building approvals and company profits figures would weigh on the local currency during the afternoon session. Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Monday show residential building approvals fell 2.4 per cent in January, a much worse result than expected, while company profits fell 1.0 per cent in the December quarter. "Definitely, that will keep the Aussie down somewhat during our session," he said. But, he said, the key driver would be the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) monthly interest rate decision on Tuesday. "It (the Australian dollar) is definitely on the weaker footing and at the lower end of the range we've been stuck in for quite a number of months," he said. Now, with the RBA announcement coming out tomorrow, it could be the good excuse to break out of this range. Meanwhile, Australian 10-year bond futures were stronger at noon. At 1200 AEDT on Monday, the March 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.715 (implying a yield of 3.285 per cent), up from 96.690 (3.310 per cent) on Friday. The March three-year bond futures contract was at 97.270 (2.730 per cent), the same level as on Friday afternoon.