The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Monday as attention turned to the release of the summer issue of the Bank of Canada’s Business Outlook Survey, with the loonie giving back some of Friday’s rally.
The loonie was trading 0.3 per cent lower at 1.2354 to the greenback, or 80.95 U.S. cents, having traded in a range of 1.2311 to 1.2360.
On Friday, the currency notched its biggest gain in eight weeks, advancing nearly 1 per cent, after some details of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls suggested space for the Federal Reserve to wait before tapering asset buying or hiking rates.
The Business Outlook Survey is due for release at 10:30 a.m. (1430 GMT) on Monday. It could offer clues on the Bank of Canada’s policy outlook, with some analysts expecting the bank to cut bond purchases again at next week’s policy announcement.
World stocks clung close to record highs, capped by worries about the Delta variant of COVID-19. Trading was thinner than usual with U.S. markets closed for the extended U.S. 4th of July weekend.
The price of oil, one of Canada’s major exports, was driven higher by a disagreement inside OPEC+ about output policy. U.S. crude prices were up 0.2 per cent at $75.33 a barrel.
Canadian government bond yields were higher across a steeper curve. The 10-year rose 3.2 basis points to 1.406 per cent, after earlier touching its lowest level since March 3 at 1.358 per cent.
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