The Australian dollar has risen sharply as the greenback plunges on the back of disappointing US jobs data.
At 0700 AEST, the local unit was trading at 73.71 US cents, up from 72.47 cents in Friday.
The US non-farm payrolls report for May on Friday showed that only 38,000 new jobs had been added, much less than market expectations of 60,000.
The two previous months were also revised down by 59,000 jobs.
Westpac chief market strategist Imre Speizer said the sharp drops indicated growth of the world’s largest economy was highly fragile.
“A surprisingly weak US labour report hurt the US dollar and pushed interest rates lower,” he said in a note.
“Markets re-assessed the chances of a US Federal Reserve (rate) hike this year.”
Speizer said the only local risk event for the Aussie on Monday morning was the Melbourne Institute Inflation Gauge, while internationally, US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen is due to speak later in the evening.
