The US dollar has fallen against the euro as traders debate whether the Federal Reserve would move soon to reduce its huge monetary stimulus.

The euro rose to $US1.3737 around 2200 GMT on Monday (0900 AEDT Tuesday) from $US1.3705 at the same time on Friday.

The European unit also rose against the Japanese currency, to Y141.89 from Y141.03. The US dollar gained, too, buying Y103.28 compared with Y102.85 late on Friday.

“The US dollar is mixed but lower on balance, with market participants seemingly not convinced that Friday’s US jobs report will lead to an imminent policy shift by the Federal Reserve,” said Nick Bennenbroek of Wells Fargo Securities.

Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management noted that the weekend’s stronger Chinese trade numbers and Friday’s stronger-than-expected nonfarm payrolls report, showing the US added 203,000 jobs in November, was helping to drive the US dollar’s dip against the euro and the pound, and its gain against the yen.

“The sell-off in commodity currencies indicates that risk appetite is limited,” she said.

“With no major US economic reports scheduled for release in the front of the week, the momentum in the market is bounded by the unpredictability of Fed policy.”

Lien said a piece of data that could push the Fed to favour an early taper is Thursday’s retail sales report for November.

“If consumer spending rises more than 1.0 per cent in November, the Fed will have the confidence to reduce bond purchases this month and the expectations for earlier tapering should drive USD/JPY to fresh highs,” she said.

But if spending growth slows to 0.2 per cent or less, the central bank may choose to wait until the holiday shopping season is over, and that delay could trigger profit taking in risk currencies, she added.

The US dollar fell against the British pound, which fetched $US1.6424 compared with $US1.6346 on Friday.

The greenback slipped to 0.8906 Swiss francs from 0.8915 francs.