TORONTO: The Canadian dollar edged lower against its broadly stronger US counterpart on Tuesday as domestic data showed a slowdown in housing starts and investors awaited a speech by Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Lawrence Schembri.

The loonie was trading 0.2% lower at 1.2540 to the greenback, or 79.74 US cents, after trading in a range of 1.2492 to 1.2546.

“Schembri is likely to generally stick to the BoC’s script that Canada has recovered all lost jobs due to the pandemic and then some, but that’s not good enough yet as there are ongoing pockets of underemployment,” Derek Holt, head of capital markets economics at Scotiabank, said in a note.

The deputy governor’s speech on labor market uncertainties and monetary policy is due at 12 ET (1700 GMT).

Canadian housing starts fell 5.3% in October compared with the previous month as a decrease in multiple urban groundbreakings outweighed a slight increase in single-detached urban starts, data from the national housing agency showed.

The US dollar rose to its highest level in 16 months against a basket of major currencies, adding to gains since hotter-than-expected US inflation data last week fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates sooner than expected.