Canadian dollar retreats from 3-year high as Fed meeting looms

TORONTO: The Canadian dollar edged lower against its US counterpart on Monday as the greenback broadly climbed ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting this week and oil prices fell, with the loonie pulling back from an earlier three-year high.

The US dollar gained for a second consecutive session as traders cut their bearish bets on the currency to four-month lows, while the price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, gave back some of its recent gains. US crude prices were down 1.7% at $64.51 a barrel.

The Canadian dollar was trading 0.1% lower at 1.2481 to the greenback, or 80.12 US cents, having touched its strongest intraday since February 2018 at 1.2442.

The loonie was boosted on Friday by data showing that Canada added more jobs than expected in February.

Canadian home sales and prices continued to surge in February, rising 6.6% from January to set a new record amid strong demand across much of the country, data from the Canadian Real Estate Association showed on Monday.

Still, speculators have cut their bullish bets on the Canadian dollar, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday. As of March 9, net long positions had decreased to 10,981 contracts from 15,327 in the prior week.

Canadian government bond yields were lower across much of a flatter curve on Monday. The 10-year touched its highest since January last year at 1.602% before dipping to 1.569%, down 2.2 basis points on the day.