C$ slips vs stronger greenback as oil prices fall

29 Jan, 2018

The US dollar rose against a basket of major currencies as US bond yields moved higher.

The price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, fell as rising US output undermined efforts led by major producers to tighten supplies.

US crude prices were down 1 percent at $65.46 a barrel. The United States, Canada and Mexico look set to announce that talks to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement will continue despite major differences that are far from being settled.

At 9:19 a.m. EST (1419 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading 0.2 percent lower at C$1.2334 to the greenback, or 81.08 US cents.

The currency traded in a range of C$1.2306 to C$1.2355. On Thursday, it touched its strongest in more than four months at C$1.2283.

Speculators raised bullish bets on the Canadian dollar for a third straight week, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Reuters calculations showed on Friday. As of Jan. 23, net long positions rose to 22,557 contracts from 17,556 a week earlier.

Canadian government bond prices were lower across much of the yield curve, with the two-year down 0.5 Canadian cent to yield 1.828 percent and the 10-year  falling 22 Canadian cents to yield 2.293 percent.

The 10-year yield reached its highest since September 2014 at 2.314 percent as investors braced for major central banks to step back from ultra-easy monetary policies. The US Federal Reserve is due to make an interest rate decision on Wednesday.

 

Copyright Reuters, 2018

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