TORONTO: The Canadian dollar ended slightly higher against its US counterpart in quiet Christmas Eve trading on Monday as investors wait until after the holidays for developments in deadlocked US budget talks.
Markets were left in limbo last week when President Barack Obama and US lawmakers suspended talks until after Christmas on avoiding $600 billion of spending cuts and tax increases that some economists say threaten to send the economy back into recession.
Although there is no official date for talks to resume, the two sides have a few days after Christmas to find a compromise before Jan. 1, when the tax and spending measures will start to take effect under current law.
"People will take a bit of a break over the holidays and try to see if they can reach some greater sense of collegiality on the other side of turkey and eggnog," said David Tulk, chief Canada macro strategist at TD Securities.
Tulk noted that the Canadian dollar was outperforming other major currencies on Monday, but that the small move in such thin volume was within the margin of error.
The Canadian dollar closed the North American session at C$0.9913 versus the US dollar, or $1.0088, modestly stronger than Friday's finish at C$0.9934, or $1.0066.
North American markets closed early and are closed on Tuesday. Most Canadian markets will remain shut on Wednesday for Boxing Day.
The currency traded in a tight 34-point range between C$0.9912 and C$0.9946, and trading was expected to remain very quiet until later in the week.
Matt Perrier, director of foreign exchange sales at BMO Capital Markets, said traders would be watching Canadian-dollar support around C$0.9960 and resistance near C$0.9875-C$0.9900.
Canadian government bond prices edged lower across the curve. The two-year bond was down 2 Canadian cents, yielding 1.122 percent, while the benchmark 10-year bond fell 12 Canadian cents to yield 1.816 percent.
Center>Copyright Reuters, 2012
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