Australian dollar hits four-year low

The Australian dollar has fallen more than 1 percent on Wednesday hitting a four-year low, following comments by Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Deputy Governor Philip Lowe on its value.

The Australian dollar slumped to a low of 85.14 U.S. cents, its lowest mark since June 2010.

Lowe told the Australian Business Economists Annual Dinner in Sydney on Tuesday night that the RBA still thinks the dollar was valued too high and is expected to depreciate next year in order to help the nation's overall economy.

"In terms of the exchange rate, the RBA has been saying for a while now that a lower value of the Australian dollar would be helpful from an overall macroeconomic perspective," according to the text of Lowe's speech.

"If the exchange rate is to play its important stabilizing role, it needs to go down when the terms of trade and investment are declining, just as it went up when the terms of trade and investment were rising.

"To date, as we expected, we have seen some adjustment, but if our assessment of the fundamentals is correct, we would expect to see more in time."