The Australian dollar has rallied one US cent following weaker than expected US jobs data.

At 0700 AEDT on Monday, the Australian dollar was trading at 90.03 US cents, up from 89.03 cents on Friday.

The US non-farm payrolls report released on Saturday morning, Australian time, showed employers added 74,000 jobs in December, much less than the 197,000 jobs analysts had expected.

The disappointing data weighed the greenback down and that weakness, combined with strong Australian data last week, including retail sales and building approvals figures, propelled the Australian dollar, ANZ senior manager FX in Auckland Sam Tuck said.

“The Australian dollar was the best performing currency against that US dollar weakness,” Mr Tuck said.

“The Australian data is showing signs of stabilisation – the weaker Australian dollar and the stimulus the Reserve Bank of Australia has put into the economy are showing signs of starting to work.

“The positive Aussie data and the negative position in the market already is probably the reason why the Australian dollar was the strongest performing currency against the broadbased US dollar sell-off.”

AAP