Canadian dollar hits a one-week low as stocks slide

TORONTO: The Canadian dollar weakened to a one-week low against its US counterpart on Thursday as global stocks and oil prices fell, while domestic data showed payroll jobs declined for the sixth straight month.

The loonie was trading 0.3% lower at 1.3222 to the greenback, or 75.63 US cents. The currency touched its weakest intraday level since Sept. 9 at 1.3247.

US crude prices were down 0.9% at $39.81 a barrel as production started in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Sally. Oil is one of Canada's major exports.

Equities recoiled after a divided US Federal Reserve dented stimulus hopes and US data continued to show high levels of weekly jobless claims.

Canada lost 205,400 nonfarm payroll jobs in August, the sixth straight month of decline, a report from payroll services provider ADP showed. The report is derived from ADP's payrolls data.

The ADP data paints a bleaker picture than government labour market data.

Earlier this month, Statistics Canada's labour force survey showed that jobs climbed for the fourth consecutive month though the pace of gains slowed, bringing employment within about a million jobs of pre-pandemic levels.

Canada's retail sales report for July is due on Friday.

Canadian government bond yields were lower across a flatter curve in sympathy with US Treasuries. The 10-year was down 3.3 basis points at 0.541%.

Strategists say that setting a target for bond yields could help the Bank of Canada reduce the amount of debt it buys to keep interest rates low, checking a threat to market liquidity after the central bank's share of bonds more than doubled this year.