TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, trading in a narrow range as domestic data showed a drop in industrial capacity utilization and an interest rate decision loomed by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The Fed is expected later today to stick to its plan not to cut interest rates further in the near future, so most of the focus will be on the central bank's outlook for next year and beyond.
Canadian industries ran at 81.7% of capacity in the third quarter of 2019, down from 83.3% in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said. Economists had forecast a rate of 82.1%.
The result was weaker than anticipated but not "shocking" after the economy slowed in the third quarter, analysts at Action Economic said.
Last week, the Bank of Canada said that Canada's economy is operating close to potential as the central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.75%.
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz is due to speak on Thursday for the first since the bank said he would step down when his seven-year mandate expires in June.
At 9:05 a.m. (1405 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading nearly unchanged at 1.3230 to the greenback, or 75.59 U.S. cents. The currency traded in a range of 1.3228 to 1.3239.
U.S. crude oil futures (CLc1) fell 0.30% to $59.06 a barrel after industry data showed an unexpected build-up of U.S. crude inventories and as investors waited to see if a fresh round of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods would come into force on Sunday.
Oil is one of Canada's major exports. About 75% of Canada's exports go to the United States.
On Tuesday, top officials from Canada, Mexico and the United States signed a fresh overhaul of a quarter-century-old trade pact that aims to improve enforcement of worker rights and hold down prices for biologic drugs by eliminating a patent provision.
Canadian government bond prices were mixed across the yield curve on Wednesday, with the two-year (CA2YT=RR) down 0.5 Canadian cent to yield 1.672% and the 10-year (CA10YT=RR) flat to yield 1.600%.