AUD/USD remained under $ 0.70

The aussie found some volatility today, mainly due to US data, while the risk appetite returned and higher yielding currencies were trading a bit higher against the yen and the US dollar.

 AUD   lost some intraday gains against the US dollar during the New York session on Monday after the US Labor Market Conditions Index release, while earlier in the day the aussie had fallen to four-month lows, as the buck was backed by the NFP released on Friday.

The AUD/USD cross was trading 0.45% higher at $0.6979 during the New York session, after hitting a daily high of $0.7036 on Monday. The pair rose from a low of $0.6927 hit during the Asian session, a level last seen in September 2015.

Friday's US labor market data provided some support for the greenback, as the pair dropped to new intraday lows after the release, although the reaction was not very volatile.

Employers hired an additional 292,000 workers in December, blasting past the 200,000 increase markets had been anticipating, figures from the Department of Labor showed on Friday. 

he week ahead is relatively quiet until the latter half, with no new data out of Australia until Thursday when the closely watched employment change and unemployment rate will be released.

Markets expect that the Australian jobs data for December will show the labor market shed 12.5K jobs, after November's report saw a massive 71.4K hike. As always, eyes will also be on China and January's Chinese trade data.

"While today's job advertisements data is actually only a third tier release, I have included it here as we have Australian employment data to be released on Thursday. As we head toward the end of the week, traders will be looking for clues in today's number on which way to best position themselves," Dane Williams, a Vantage FX Market Analyst, said on Monday.

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group's (ANZ) job advertisements in December plunged -0.1% from a downwardly revised 1.1% gain recorded in the previous month, data showed on Monday. The ANZ job advertisement series measures the number of jobs advertised in the major daily newspapers and internet sites covering the capital cities.

"Of course, should activity in China weaken further and equity prices in Australia continue to fall, then GDP growth may even slow this year rather than hold steady close to 2.3% as we expect and the RBA could start cutting interest rates again sooner (our forecast is that rates will fall from 2.0% now to 1.5% this year). But, for the moment, the equity price falls seen so far this year are not big enough to significantly alter the economic outlook or prompt the RBA into action," Paul Dales, chief Australia and NZ economist, said.