The dollar is weaker as a decline in US consumer confidence fails to stop the greenback from rising against the euro.

At 0700 AEDT on Monday, the local currency was trading at 76.21 US cents, down from 76.75 cents on Friday.

The Australian unit slipped during offshore trade as the US dollar rose against the euro.

This occurred even though the University of Michigan’s preliminary reading for March showed a decline in consumer confidence.

Normally, poor US economic data would dent the greenback but the US dollar rose as the first week of the European Central Bank’s 1.1 trillion euros ($A1.52 trillion) bond buying program hurt the euro, Westpac, senior market strategist, Imre Speizer said.

“It’s a lot of money printing; markets are still pricing that in,” Speizer said from Wellington.

“Which is why the euro’s sliding still.

“Most other currencies are just following that euro-US move … that was probably the main driver of Aussie-US falling as well.”

It comes as the US Federal Reserve prepares to hold a two day policy meeting this week.

The US dollar could fall on Thursday morning, Australian time, if the accompanying statement removed the word “patience”, in regards to the timing of a possible US interest rate rise, without giving specifics on when the next increase could occur.

“The removal of the ‘patience’ word is the minimum that the market’s priced in,” Speizer said.