The Canadian dollar softened against its US counterpart on Thursday as weaker crude oil prices weighed and investor attention focused on the monetary policy directions of the US and Canadian central banks. A slew of US data including inflation data and stronger-than-expected durable goods orders in January also helped strengthen the greenback against a basket of currencies , offsetting Canadian inflation figures that topped forecasts.
The US data, along with comments from Fed officials on Thursday, supported bets the US central bank will raise interest rates sometime in the middle of the year. The Canadian dollar ended the North American session at C$1.2527 to the greenback, or 79.83 US cents, weaker than Wednesday's close of C$1.2423, or 80.50 US cents. USForex currency strategist Lennon Sweeting said the last couple of sessions have been an opportunity for investors to take profit on long US dollar positions. Canadian government bond prices were lower across the maturity curve, with the two-year down 7 Canadian cents to yield 0.507 percent and the benchmark 10-year down 27 Canadian cents to yield 1.354 percent.
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