TORONTO: The commodity-linked Canadian dollar was unchanged against its broadly firmer US counterpart on Monday as oil prices rallied and risk appetite improved.
The Canadian dollar's steady performance against the greenback follows steep losses on Friday as a slump in domestic jobs and a record-wide Canadian trade deficit contrasted with a robust US jobs report.
Oil rose after a report of renewed calls by some OPEC members to restrain output. US crude prices were up 1.84 percent at $42.57 a barrel.
Adding to support for Canada's risk-sensitive currency, stock markets rose amid increased expectations of faster growth in the US after Friday's jobs data.
Meanwhile, the US dollar rose against a basket of major currencies.
At 9:26 a.m. EDT (1326 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading at C$1.3164 to the greenback, or 75.96 US cents, unchanged from Friday's close.
The currency's strongest level of the session was C$1.3141, while its weakest was C$1.3197.
On Friday, the Canadian dollar touched a nine-day low at C$1.3200.
The implied probability of a Bank of Canada rate cut has increased to 19 percent, overnight index swaps data showed. It was 12 percent before Friday's weak domestic jobs and trade data.
The value of Canadian building permits declined 5.5 percent in June from May, data from Statistics Canada showed on Monday. Construction intentions in multi-family dwellings and institutional buildings led the drop.
Speculators reduced bullish bets on the loonie for the first time in six weeks, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday. Net long Canadian dollar positions fell to 17,758 contracts in the week ended August 2 from 23,180 contracts in the prior week.
Canadian government bond prices were slightly higher across the maturity curve, with the two-year price up 0.5 Canadian cent to yield 0.518 percent and the benchmark 10-year rising 12 Canadian cents to yield 1.059 percent.
The yield on Canada's 10-year bond fell 3 basis points further below the yield on its US equivalent, leaving the spread at -54.1 basis points, its largest gap since June 2, as Canadian government bonds outperformed.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.