The Canadian dollar was little changed against its US counterpart on Monday as investors turned attention to both a Federal Reserve interest rate decision and a speech by Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz later in the week. The Canadian currency lost 1.3 percent last week after the central bank struck a more dovish tone than investors had expected as it left its benchmark interest rate steady at 1 percent.
Poloz will discuss on Thursday the issues that keep him awake at night. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates at a two-day policy meeting that will end on Wednesday, and is seen possibly tightening two or three times in 2018.
At 9:14 a.m. ET (1414 GMT), the Canadian dollar was little changed at C$1.2857 to the greenback, or 77.78 US cents. The currency traded in a narrow range of C$1.2832 to C$1.2868. On Friday, it touched its weakest in one week at C$1.2880.
Speculators have trimmed bullish bets on the Canadian dollar, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Reuters calculations showed on Friday. As of December 5, net long positions had slipped to 42,466 contracts from 45,658 a week earlier. North American Free Trade Agreement negotiators convene in Washington next week for a limited round of talks unlikely to move the needle on major sticking points but aimed at demonstrating some progress toward closing easier chapters.
The price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, edged higher as investors weighed Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries-led output cuts and rising US drilling activity. US crude prices were up 0.40 percent at $57.59 a barrel.
Canadian government bond prices were slightly higher across a flatter yield curve, with the two-year up 1 Canadian cent to yield 1.498 percent and the 10-year rising 10 Canadian cents to yield 1.849 percent. The gap between Canada's two-year yield and its US equivalent widened by 0.9 of a basis point to -30.5 basis points.