The Australian dollar rose against most currencies on Monday, amid optimism about the Omicron variant.
US Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci said that the risks of the Omicron variant may have been exaggerated, noting that may be less dangerous than Delta.
Fauci stated that the initial data from South Africa are encouraging and optimistic, and there is no evidence about the number of mutations in this variant, but the Delta variant is more wide-spread than it.
Cases of Omicron have already appeared in the US, Europe and Asia, but with mild symptoms and no deaths have been reported.
As of 17:00 GMT, AUD/USD rose 0.7% to 0.7047, after hitting a high of 0.7055 and a low of 0.6994.