TORONTO: The Canadian dollar weakened against its US counterpart on Thursday as the greenback made broad-based gains, but losses for the loonie were restrained as oil rose.
Growing expectations that US interest rates will rise before the end of the year lifted the US dollar against a basket of major currencies.
US crude prices were up 0.72 percent at $50.19 a barrel, underpinned by data on Wednesday that showed a surprisingly large drop in US inventory levels.
At 9:28 a.m. EDT (1328 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading at C$1.3207 to the greenback, or 75.72 US cents, weaker than Wednesday's close of C$1.3182, or 75.86 US cents.
The currency's strongest level of the session was C$1.3177, while its weakest was C$1.3220.
Still, the loonie outperformed some other major currencies. Against the Japanese yen, it touched its highest in nearly four weeks at 78.81 yen.
Strategists expect the Canadian dollar to strengthen over the coming year as higher oil prices provide support, but monetary policy divergence and US election risk should restrain the currency in the near term, a Reuters poll found.
Bank of Canada Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Wilkins will speak on economic trends and monetary policy, and the central bank will release her prepared remarks at 11:35 a.m. EDT (1535 GMT). Investors will look for signs of how the bank expects growth to shape up in the second half of the year.
Investors are also awaiting US and Canadian employment reports on Friday. Canada is expected to show the economy added 10,000 jobs in September, keeping the unemployment rate at 7.0 percent.
Canadian government bond prices were lower across a steeper yield curve in sympathy with US Treasuries. The two-year fell 1.5 Canadian cents to yield 0.586 percent, and the benchmark 10-year declined 42 Canadian cents to yield 1.136 percent.
Earlier, the 10-year matched Wednesday's intraday high at 1.141 percent, which was the highest in nearly two weeks.
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