Australian dollar pares gain

The Australian dollar eased back from its offshore high above 76 US cents on Monday as it struggled against a steadying US dollar after Friday's post-US payrolls sell-off and profit-taking on some crosses.
Liquidity was also thinned slightly by the absence of Australia's second largest financial centre, Melbourne, due to a Victorian state holiday.
Still, the Aussie was around three-quarters of a US cent above where the local market left it on Friday and remains comfortably above last week's low for the year of 74.02 cents.
The AUD was $0.7573/78, compared with $0.7508/13 late here on Friday.
"The solidity in base metals prices, the general downward adjustment in the USD, and the reflationary bias of central banks globally are all likely to ensure the AUD continues to move higher in the medium term," said Societe Generale Australia senior strategist John Horner.