Around 4:00 p.m. ET (2000 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading at C$1.2644 to the greenback, or 79.09 US cents, down 0.1 percent and at its weakest level since late August.

The currency had fallen by the most in nine months on Friday as a drop in domestic retail sales bolstered expectations that the central bank would hold steady at a policy announcement on Wednesday after hiking back to back in July and September.

"The more we're ticking down to the Bank's meeting, the more I think people are worried about whether the Bank will sound a little dovish. That's keeping the Canadian dollar soft," said Mark Chandler, head of Canadian fixed income and currency strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

Friday's data was the latest to show the pace of Canadian economic growth slowing. This comes after a red-hot first half of the year that saw Canada emerging as a leader among its industrialized peers.

The Bank of Canada is expected to hike rates one more time this year, though an October hike is seen as unlikely, according to the latest poll by Reuters.