The Canadian dollar fell to a near eight-week low against the greenback on Friday as rising concern about the economic impact of the coronavirus pressured commodity-linked currencies, with the loonie seeing its biggest monthly loss since December 2018.

At 3:45 p.m. (2045 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading 0.2% lower at 1.3233 to the greenback, or 75.57 US cents. The currency touched its weakest intraday level since Dec. 9 at 1.3253.

For January, the loonie was down 1.8%. It follows a 5% gain in 2019, when the loonie was the top-performing G10 currency.

Speculators have cut their bullish bets on the Canadian dollar, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Reuters calculations showed on Friday. As of Jan. 28, net long positions had fallen to 34,590 contracts from 38,294 in the prior week.

Canadian government bond yields were lower across the yield curve, with the 10-year yield falling 6.5 basis points to 1.265%. It touched its lowest intraday since Oct. 8 at 1.257%.

Copyright Reuters, 2020

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