The Australian dollar continued its recent rise overnight, as overseas traders joined the betting against another cut to the official interest rate.
The currency's climb accelerated yesterday with the release of official figures showing a surprise fall in the Australian unemployment rate to 6.1 per cent.
That pattern continued through the night, with the dollar back at 78 US cents by 7:30am (AEST), well over 2 cents up on its value on Wednesday evening.
Wall Street struggled for momentum though, closing a touch lower on lingering reporting season anxiety and soft economic data.
The Dow Jones industrial average finished the session just 7 points, or 0.04 per cent lower, at 18,106.
The broader S&P 500 slipped less than 2 points (0.08 per cent) to 2,105.
The fall came despite another strong session for energy stocks as West Texas crude oil climbed further to $US56.64 a barrel.
Brent crude was also higher at $US63.85 a barrel.
The finance sector also rose as Citi Group reported its highest quarterly profit in nearly eight years.
Recent Australian arrival Netflix surged more than 18 per cent as the streaming service reported a big increase in customers, helped at least partially by the new subscribers added here.
But that was offset by data including US housing commencements for March, which came in well short of expectations.
Jobless claims rose and factory activity in the Philadelphia region increased, but was still softer in the details than had been hoped.
In Europe, another round of wrangling over the Greek debt crisis weighed on stocks.
Greece's lending costs have risen further after ratings agency Standard and Poor's downgraded the nation's credit rating on Wednesday.
The Euro Stoxx index closed down nearly 1.4 per cent (52 points) at 3,752 and the German DAX lost 1.9 per cent (232 points) to 11,999.
France's CAC 40 slid 0.6 per cent (30 points) to 5,224 and the FTSE 100 in London fell 0.5 per cent (36 points) to 7,060.
Local futures trade is giving a slightly negative read on the Australian market after yesterday's gains; the ASX SPI 200 was 6 points lower at 5,938 at 7:30am (AEST).
Against the other major currencies, the Australian dollar was buying around 72.4 euro cents, 52.2 British pence and 92.8 Japanese yen.
The benchmark iron ore price in China rose slightly to $US50 a tonne.
Spot gold was lower though at $US1,198 an ounce.