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Loonie pulls back from 6-week high as oil prices slide

Published 2019-09-11, 04:32 p/m
© Reuters.  CANADA FX DEBT-Loonie pulls back from 6-week high as oil prices slide
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* Canadian dollar falls 0.3% against the greenback

* Price of U.S. oil decreases 2.9%

* Canadian industrial capacity usage rose to 83.3% in Q2

* Canada's 10-year yield touches a near six-week high at 1.442%

By Fergal Smith

TORONTO, Sept 11 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, pulling back from a six-week high the day before, as oil prices fell and the greenback broadly climbed.

At 3:43 p.m. (1943 GMT), the Canadian dollar CAD=D4 was trading 0.3% lower at 1.3194 to the greenback, or 75.79 U.S. cents. The currency traded in a range of 1.3140 to 1.3215.

Lower oil prices were "the main driver" of the Canadian dollar, said Simon Côté, managing director, risk management solutions, at National Bank Financial.

There was no discernable impact from Wednesday's kickoff of a six-week Canadian federal election campaign in which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals face a tight race. price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, was put under pressure by a report that U.S. President Donald Trump weighed easing sanctions on Iran, which could boost global crude supply at a time of lingering worries about global energy demand. crude oil futures CLc1 settled 2.9% lower at $55.75 a barrel, while the U.S. dollar .DXY climbed against a basket of major currencies, including the euro, a day before the European Central Bank is expected to add further stimulus in a bid to boost the region's economy. from Statistics Canada showed that Canadian industrial capacity usage rose more than expected to 83.3% in the second quarter, adding to the batch of upbeat economic reports that has helped boost the loonie by 0.9% since the start of the month. Tuesday, the loonie posted its strongest intraday level since July 31 at 1.3134.

"It feels here as if my (U.S.) dollar sellers, mostly corporate, are sitting on long-dollar positions," Côté said. "If that movement on U.S.-CAD resumes to the downside, at some point somebody will have to sell more dollars ... that's where I think the risk is of a bigger move."

The loonie's gains this month have coincided with a rally in global stocks .WORLD . In addition, the Bank of Canada last week held its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.75% and made no mention of future rate cuts despite easing this year by many of its global peers, including the U.S. Federal Reserve. government bond prices edged higher across much of the yield curve, with the two-year CA2YT=RR up 2.5 Canadian cents to yield 1.584% and the benchmark 10-year CA10YT=RR rising 10 Canadian cents to yield 1.418%.

Still, the 10-year yield touched its highest intraday level since Aug. 1 at 1.442%.

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