Australian dollar slides anew as bears take control THE week-long retreat of the Australian dollar, which has reaffirmed its status as one of the worst-performing currencies globally in 2013, returned anew today as global hedge funds sold the unit heavily in response to recent warnings from the central bank it is still too high. The Aussie slumped to its lowest level since September 4 in New York yesterday and then failed to bounce in the Asia session today, leaving traders to speculate a second wave of selling may be in the offing when European and U.S. investors rejoin the market in coming hours. "Hedge fund and model fund selling was tipped amid heavy losses during the European morning," said Sean Callow, senior currency strategist at Westpac. The publication of a downbeat forecast for the Australian dollar in 2014 by Goldman Sachs also soured the mood of the market. Goldman's is tipping a possible slide to US80c for the Aussie next year as the commodity-led economy grows slowly and the US dollar recovers. By late afternoon, The Australian dollar was trading at US91.24c, down from US91.83c at the same time yesterday. It traded as low as US9c during today's local session. The Aussie has fallen over the last week from around US94.50c after Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said he was "open minded" on the topic of intervention to weaken the Australian dollar. Axel Merk, chief investment officer at Merk Investments, which manages $US450 million in assets, said the RBA has been successful in talking down the Australian dollar through its jawboning. "There are many reasons why people are hesitant to jump into the Australian dollar," Mr Merk said. There are more attractive currencies such as euro and the New Zealand dollar at the moment. Mr Merk said the RBA has no reason to intervene in the currency at the moment as it is already moving in the right direction for policy makers. The Australian dollar is heading down and intervention is useless. So why do if you can weaken the Australian dollar with some cheap talk? Mr Merk said. Greg Gibbs, senior currency strategist at the Royal Bank of Scotland, based in Singapore, said the weakness in the Aussie also reflects a recent tightening of monetary conditions in China, the country's biggest trading partner. "The trading performance of the Australian dollar in recent sessions has been poor reflecting the increasing uncertainty in China and the rhetoric by the RBA focusing on the expected decline in resources investment over the coming several years," Mr Gibbs said. A government update on mining investment in Australia also dragged on the Australian dollar. The value of investment in Australia's resources industry is falling as major developments are Alan Oster, chief economist at National Australia Bank said the slowdown in mining investment was rapid and implied a further cut in interest rates was likely next year, adding to the eight already announced by the central bank in the last two years to support the economy. Third quarter business investment data tomorrow from the government statistician is expected to confirm mining companies continue to wind back plans for new investment spending.