The Australian dollar has continued its recent fall, dipping below 90 US cents for the first time in six months.

After falling three cents against the greenback last week, the dollar dropped by another 0.5 per cent today.

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Around 5:00pm it was buying around 89.9 US cents, 69.4 euro cents, 55.4 British pence, 96.5 Japanese yen and 110.5 New Zealand cents.

The Australian share market fared even worse today, as almost every sector lost ground.

The All Ordinaries index closed 57 points or more than 1 per cent lower at 5,475, while the ASX 200 index also lost 57 points to 5,474.

Finance stocks suffered some of the heaviest losses, including the big four banks.

The Commonwealth Bank dropped 1.6 per cent, Westpac and ANZ each fell 1.4 per cent and National Australia Bank dipped 1.3 per cent.

Macquarie Group was an exception, gaining more than 1 per cent after updating investors on its outlook.

The mining sector gained ground early in the session but also ended in the red.

BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both closed 0.4 per cent lower.

Gold miner Newcrest fell 0.9 per cent but Fortescue Metals Group rose 0.5 per cent.

Telstra lost 0.9 per cent while Qantas dropped 5.7 per cent, with the weakening Australian dollar to hit the airline’s fuel costs.

Away from the market official figures showed sales of cars fell last month.

The bureau of statistics said more than 91,000 vehicles were sold in August, 1.8 per cent fewer than the prior month.

A slide in sales of sports utility vehicles drove the decline.

West Texas crude oil was selling for $US92.13 a barrel, Tapis crude oil in Singapore was worth $US98.99 a barrel and spot gold’s trading about $US1,235 an ounce.