The Australian dollar closed slightly weaker despite domestic data showing a surprise rise in upstream inflation in the September quarter.
At 1700 AEST the local currency was trading at $US0.7488/93, compared with Friday's close of 0.7516/21. During the day's trade, it reached a low of $US0.7468 and a high of 0.7493.
St George Bank's foreign exchange trading manager Stuart Moore said the local unit was largely unmoved by wholesale inflation data out today.
"The Aussie has been very quiet today, stuck between 70 and 90, with still a lot of talk on the (US) interest rate and US dollar direction," he said.
Mr Moore said the US dollar is set to march higher, with the US interest rate carrying on, closing the differential gap between Australia and the US.
"That is certainly putting pressure on the Aussie," he said.
The interest rate differential between the US and Australia is 1.75 per cent. Australia's producer price index (PPI) at the final stage of production rose 1.5 per cent in the September quarter with an annual rise of 3.4 per cent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.
However, Mr Moore said the PPI numbers would not have a major effect on the local currency.
"The Australian economy is going along fairly stable, we have not had anything really drastic here for quite a while, and there is nothing on the horizon to see that our economy is going to change very much," he said.
He said the Australian dollar movements will depend on the US economy and US interest rates.
Investors are looking ahead to Wednesday when the ABS releases its September quarter CPI with the market expecting headline quarterly growth of around one per cent.
However core growth is expected to be slightly more subdued.
Mr Moore said he is not expecting anything out of the ordinary, despite the jump petrol prices.

//finance.news.com.au