The Australian dollar was flat after a better than expected US jobs report had traders buying American dollars in anticipation that the US Federal Reserve might be prepared to raise interest rates sooner than expected.
At the local close, the dollar was trading at $US0.8389, up a touch from Friday's close of $US0.8388.
During Monday's local session, the local unit moved between $US0.8336 and $US0.8404.
"We has a reasonable morning, but we ran out of steam when (the unit) hit $US0.8400 mark,'' CMC markets foreign exchange dealer Tim Waterer said. "I would describe it as circumspect trading, no significant upward or downward movement. The employment figures we saw in the US saw the US dollar reasonably well bid.
On Friday the US Department of Labor said employers cut 247,000 jobs in July, the lowest amount in a year. It was better than forecasts of a loss of 325,000 jobs and fewer than the 443,000 shed in June.
"We still have the gold price trading above $US950 and that's supporting the Aussie,'' Mr Waterer said.
Unusually, the domestic unit was weakened at the start of Monday's session after better than expected employment data out of the US caused a buy up of US dollars, Mr Waterer said.
The US employment news, which would usually cause investors to buy commodity-based currencies like the Australian dollar, instead helped the US dollar rise against all major currencies, Mr Waterer said.
"Normally an unemployment number like we saw in the US would be good for the Australian dollar, but that didn't happen.
"Perhaps we're approaching a stage where fundamentally sound data in the US will be good for the US dollar and ... prompt a buy.
"People are thinking back to the interest rate picture and the quicker that the US employment market resumes some sort of normal pattern, that might open the door for future rate hikes.''
Mr Waterer said a lack of economic data during Monday's offshore session meant investors would turn to Wall Street for direction.
