Australian dollar slides on Fed minutes

The Australian dollar is weaker as minutes of the US Federal Reserve's last meeting hint that the central bank is more likely to unwind its stimulus measures before the mid-2014 target.

At 0630 AEST, the local unit was trading at 91.23 US cents, down from 91.96 cents on Wednesday.

The currency came under renewed pressure during offshore trade 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 be wound up by the end of this year.

The news boosted the greenback, hurting the Australian dollar.

US Fed chairman Ben Bernanke signalled last month that quantitative easing (QE) could end by mid-2014, depending on economic circumstances, which caused a plunge in the Australian dollar.