TORONTO: The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday as a rebound in equity markets lost momentum and despite preliminary domestic data showing that wholesale trade rose in November.
The loonie was trading 0.3% lower at 1.3650 to the greenback, or 73.26 U.S. cents, after moving in a range of 1.3572 to 1.3663.
Wall Street stocks fell as investors weighed signs of a still tight U.S. labor market. On Wednesday, the major U.S. indexes posted their biggest daily gains so far in December.
Canada is a major producer of commodities, including oil, so the loonie tends to be sensitive to shifts in investor sentiment.
Oil climbed to its highest level in 2-1/2 weeks with U.S. crude, heating oil and jet fuel stocks growing tighter just as a wintry blast hits the United States. U.S. crude prices were up 1.1% at $79.14 a barrel.
Canadian wholesale trade rose 1.9% in November from October, largely reflecting higher sales in the motor vehicles and parts subsector, Statistics Canada said in a flash estimate.
It follows mixed inflation data for the same month on Wednesday that left the door open for another interest rate increase by the Bank of Canada in January.
Canadian government bond yields were higher across the curve. The 10-year touched its highest since Nov. 30 at 3.055% before dipping to 3.044%, up 2.2 basis points an the day.
Canada is due to auction C$4 billion ($2.9 billion) of 10-year bonds, with the bidding deadline set for 12 p.m. ET.
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