The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Friday as investor caution about taking on more risk offset stronger-than-expected domestic manufacturing data, but the loonie held on to most of this week’s rally.
The loonie was trading 0.2 per cent lower at 1.3243 to the greenback, or 75.51 U.S. cents. The currency, which notched on Thursday a six-and-a-half-month high at 1.3188, traded in a range of 1.3206 to 1.3253. For the week, the loonie was up 1.1 per cent.
Canadian manufacturing sales rose by a record 20.7 per cent in June as many factories operated at a much higher capacity than in May, Statistics Canada said. Analysts had forecast a gain of 16.4 per cent.
Global shares dipped after lackluster Chinese economic data and worries about a delay in U.S. fiscal stimulus discouraged some investors who worried that the market’s recent rally was over-extended.
Canada runs a current account deficit and is a major exporter of commodities, including oil, so the loonie tends to be sensitive to the global flow of trade and capital.
The price of oil was pressured by doubts about demand recovery due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and rising supply. U.S. crude prices were down 0.4 per cent at $42.07 a barrel.
Canadian government bond yields were mixed across a flatter curve, with the 30-year down 1.5 basis points at 1.131 per cent. On Thursday, it reached its highest intraday level in more than two months at 1.148 per cent.
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