The Canadian dollar edged lower against its US counterpart on Friday, reducing its gains for the week as oil prices fell and domestic data showed a steep drop in home sales that offset evidence of stronger-than-expected manufacturing activity.
At 4:05 p.m. (2005 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading 0.1 percent lower at 1.3348 to the greenback, or 74.92 US cents. The currency traded in a range of 1.3290 to 1.3372. For the week, the loonie was up 0.6 percent. Canadian government bond prices were higher across the yield curve in sympathy with US Treasuries after data showing US manufacturing output fell for a second straight month in February.
The two-year rose 6 Canadian cents to yield 1.624 percent and the 10-year climbed 35 Canadian cents to yield 1.716 percent. The 10-year yield touched its lowest intraday since June 2017 at 1.704 percent. "A lot of noise in the market but not a lot movement today," said Rahim Madhavji, president at Knightsbridge Foreign Exchange. "It still comes down to interest rates and jobs for the longer term."
Data last Friday showed a second consecutive month of bumper job gains that quelled concerns that Canada's economy could be headed for a recession. The Bank of Canada is unlikely to cut interest rates to support a flagging economy as long as job growth continues at a robust pace, an analysis of the central bank's response to past divergences in economic data suggests.
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