Aussie jumps after building data

The Australian dollar was off to a solid start on Monday, with help from signs that Australian's construction sector expanded at the fastest pace in almost a year last month. The AiG Construction Index indicated on Monday that Australia's construction sector expanded for the first time since March in August, with the index rising from 47.1 in July to 53.8 last month, the highest reading since September 2014.

The AUD/USD pair gained 0.51% to trade at $0.6943 on Monday morning in Sydney, off Friday's close in New York of $0.6908.

Three of the four sub-indices in the AiG index expanded in August after contracting in July, including new orders, construction activity, and employment, but supplier deliveries were in contraction for a fifth month.

The construction gauge comes less than a week after official data showed the economy growing a mere 0.2% in the June quarter, missing estimates of a 0.4% expansion, which assisted the Australian dollar in falling to its weakest in more than six years against the US dollar.