The Canadian dollar weakened slightly against its US counterpart on Tuesday as the greenback made broad-based gains and oil prices steadied. Modest losses for the loonie came one day after its biggest rally since June as oil surged and doubts grew over Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's prospects to win the White House in the November 8 election. Trump has said he would renegotiate or scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement if he is elected.
The US dollar rose to an 11-week high against a basket of major currencies as investors upped their bets on the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates before the end of the year. Oil steadied amid concerns that a production cut by the world's largest exporters might not be enough to erode a two-year global crude surplus. The price of US crude fell 0.14 percent to $51.28 a barrel.
At 9:23 am EDT (1323 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading at C$1.3190 to the greenback, or 75.82 US cents, slightly weaker than Monday's close of C$1.3175, or 75.90 US cents, according to Reuters data. The Canadian currency's strongest level of the session was C$1.3164, while its weakest was C$1.3238. The loonie's official close on Friday was C$1.3285 to the greenback, or 75.27 US cents. Monday was a market holiday in Canada.
Still, the loonie rose against some other major currencies. Against the euro, it touched its strongest level in more than two weeks at C$1.4616. Canadian housing starts surged in September compared with August, the national housing agency reported on Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts rose to 220,617 units from a 184,201-unit rate in August.
The stronger-than-expected housing starts followed data on Friday which showed the economy created 67,200 jobs in September, far more than expected. Speculators increased bearish bets on the Canadian dollar, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday. Net short Canadian dollar positions increased to 14,077 contracts in the week ended October 4 from 11,615 in the prior week.
Canadian government bond prices were lower across a steeper yield curve in sympathy with US Treasuries. The two-year fell 2.5 Canadian cents to yield 0.606 percent and the benchmark 10-year declined 38 Canadian cents to yield 1.211 percent. The 10-year yield touched its highest level since September 20 at 1.235 percent.