TORONTO: The Canadian dollar weakened against its US counterpart on Thursday as oil prices fell and a sell-off in technology stocks threatened to renew volatility in global equity markets.

US stocks futures were sharply lower and the safe-haven US dollar rallied against a basket of major currencies as Facebook-owner Meta Platforms’ disappointing forecast triggered a slump in other technology companies.

The price of oil, one of Canada’s major exports, was pressured by weak US payrolls data and some profit-taking, but remained underpinned by tight supply as OPEC+ producers stuck to planned moderate output increases.

US crude prices fell 1.1% to $87.30 a barrel, while the Canadian dollar was trading 0.3% lower at 1.27 to the greenback, or 78.74 US cents. The currency traded in a range of 1.2669 to 1.2715.