$A weaker but off lows as Bernanke speaks Fed comments in the US sour the markets as oil prices rise. Commsec report Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's statement has kept the Aussie dollar off recent lows. THE Australian dollar is weaker but off its lows as US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke hints that stimulus measures are set to continue. At 0700 AEST on Thursday, the local unit was buying 91.77 US cents, down from 91.96 cents on Wednesday. The currency fell to an intraday low of 90.90 US cents at 0500 AEST, after minutes of the US central bank's June 18 and 19 Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed "about half" of the participants thought the $US85 billion a month bond buying program should finish by the end of 2013. But the Australian dollar rocketed from 91.21 US cents to 91.78 US cents, within 15 minutes, as Dr Bernanke suggested stimulus measures, known as quantitative easing and which boosts the supply of greenbacks, would continue. Bernanke is talking to the market, right here, right now ... about how there is need for an 'accommodative stance' for some time to come. He's going a step towards saying: 'Look, don't expect massive tapering of our asset purchase program at the moment', suggesting that the unemployment rate really needs to get below 6.5 per cent in the States. The Australian dollar will face selling pressure, during late morning trade, if June's domestic jobless rate is higher than economists' median forecast of 5.6 per cent, up from May's 5.5 per cent. But, Mr Hill said, any fall in the local currency, because of the unemployment figures, would dissipate as offshore traders joined the market, and focused on US news. It's probably more likely to have an intraday effect. Aussie employment numbers ... you'll probably see up to half a (US) cent move either way depending on which side of the expectation those numbers come out.