In late local trade the Aussie was buying US77.17¢, down sharply from its US78.01¢ level at the same time on Friday. At one stage it brushed US77.12¢

The local unit eased throughout Monday's domestic trading session, following the sharemarket down after Chevron sold half of its 50 per cent stake in Caltex Australia.

"The deal will go down as that largest block trade in Australian history and in Asia so far this year," said OANDA Asia Pacific senior trader Stephen Innes.

"Naturally, there are some currency implications on these types of deals to be expected, and currency traders will likely start speculating about how much of the impact of this news will hit the forex [foreign exchange] market," he said.

Despite further dovish messages from US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen, the Aussie has been losing ground against the greenback since Friday's aftermarket.

Analysts ascribed this to renewed jitters about the price of iron ore, which hit a fresh six-year low on Friday, and more broadly about the growth slowdown in China.

People's Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan helped stoke these concerns at the weekend by airing his own doubts about the nation's growth rate and the threat of deflation.

"The combination of oversupply and the weakening building sector in China, Australia's largest trading partner, is leaning on the Australian dollar," said Mr Innes. "The question is: 'will the fall continue?'"

HSBC Bank Australia said in a research note on Monday that disinflation in China was as much a product of weak internal demand as it was lower input costs, and this would force the central bank to keep easing monetary policy.

"This ... is no one-off temporary shock," the bank said.

"In fact, we believe that, supply shocks apart, weak demand is the fundamental reason behind the sharp deceleration in consumer price inflation."

In Australia, meanwhile, the data flow will pick up on Tuesday in a week shortened by the Easter holiday. Traders and investors will be looking at credit growth, building approvals and the trade balance for February for signs of any pick up in domestic activity, and any build-up of household debt risks.

In any case, the futures market has already fully priced in another Reserve Bank of Australia cut to the cash rate, to 2 per cent, by or at the RBA's May 5 policy meeting.

In the US this week, inflation reads late on Monday and jobs data on Friday will provide further clues to the sustainability of recovery in the world's biggest economy, and so an idea of when the Fed will announce the first rate hike in nine years.

Ms Yellen, in an address early on Saturday (Australian time), further hinted that tightening would not come as soon or be as aggressive as many expected. Some commentators have revised their forecasts for a June start to interest rate rises on the back of patchy data.

Others, however, say the country's growth remains solid.

"While the stronger US dollar appears to have provided a modest headwind to the US economy, most of the loss of momentum appears to have been driven by transitory factors that are likely to dissipate going forward," said Australia and New Zealand Banking Group senior economist Tom Kenny.