SYDNEY, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Australian dollar slipped against the greenback at Monday's open, continuing its range bound trade.
At the Asian open on Monday, the Australian dollar was trading at 76.57 U.S. cents, down from 76.87 U.S. cents at Friday's close.
The unit jumped above 77 U.S. cents in Friday's offshore session after the greenback fell on softer than expected U.S. retail sales data, but since further eased.
The Australian dollar will continue its range bound trade between 75.45 U.S. cents and 77.55 U.S. cents this week, influenced by a string of local data and a greenback trading defensive on soft U.S. economic activity, Commonwealth Bank of Australia senior currency strategist Elias Haddad said.
Australia's wage price index data on Thursday will take added importance given the Reserve Bank of Australia's inflation outlook, with a weaker than expected print seeing market expectations for a November cut increase, undermining the Australian dollar, Haddad said.
At 0947 local time (AEST), the Australian dollar had eased slightly to 76.53 U.S. cents.
