Canadian dollar falls

The Canadian dollar ended lower versus the US currency on Friday as the greenback strengthened, while Canadian investors fretted about the possibility of a second federal election in three months. Canadian bond prices rose slightly on economic concerns, pushing yields to their lowest levels in more than a decade.
The currency finished at C$1.2370 to the US dollar, or 80.70 US cents, down from C$1.2311 to the US dollar, or 81.23 US cents, at Thursday's close. Concerns that Canada's Conservative government could fall emerged late on Thursday when the opposition Liberals and two other opposition parties said they could bring down the government over its fiscal update, which did not include large-scale stimulus measures to tackle the effects of the global financial crisis.
The Liberals have prepared a motion of no confidence for possible debate on Monday, although analysts said the market was not pricing in a serious possibility that the government could go down.
"The chatter on the politics might have been a modest drag overall," said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at TD Securities in Toronto. The currency fell as far as C$1.2470, or 80.19 US cents, around midday, before rebounding a bit. For the week, the Canadian dollar rose 2.6 percent.
Osborne also attributed weakness to heavy US dollar buying ahead of the London gold price fix late in the morning. The US currency rose sharply versus the euro.
Canadian bonds rose in the wake of US Treasuries as worries about the global economy built expectations of further interest rate cuts. However, a strong 5.9 percent rise in Canadian stocks coupled with the weaker currency kept Canadian debt from matching the sharper rise in US Treasuries.
"The US market rallied a lot. We did OK, but we actually lagged considerably," said Mark Chandler, fixed income strategist at RBC Capital Markets. Yields of two-, 10-, and 30-year bonds all hit their lowest marks in over a decade on Friday.
"Overall, the story on why global yields are down is just continued talk or anticipation of easier (monetary) policy... and a whole bunch of expected soft data," Chandler said. Canadian third-quarter gross domestic product will be released on Monday. Analysts expect annualised growth of 1.1 percent.