Investing.com - The Canadian dollar fell against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday as a rally in oil prices paused with investors taking profits and market watchers beginning to turn their attention to this week’s Bank of Canada meeting.
USD/CAD was last up 0.30% at 1.3310. The pair hit lows of 1.3235 on Monday, the weakest level since October 21.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday, retreating from 16-month highs, after data showing that OPEC’s oil output hit another record high in November.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed last week to cut output for the first time in eight years, triggering a rally in oil, one of Canada’s major exports.
The increase in output ahead of the production cut, set to take effect in January, triggered fears that the global supply glut could persist well into 2017.
The fall in oil prices offset data showing that Canada’s trade deficit shrank in October.
Statistics Canada reported that the trade deficit shrank to C$1.13 billion from a record C$4.38 billion in September.
Imports fell by 6.3% to C$44.71 billion, the lowest level since February 2015, while exports rose by 0.5% to C$43.58 billion.
Meanwhile, investors were looking ahead to the upcoming BoC meeting on Wednesday.
A solid domestic jobs report on Friday reinforced that the central bank will keep monetary policy unchanged.
In October, the bank kept rates on hold, but said that it had actively considered cutting for the third time in two years.
In the U.S., data showed that the trade deficit widened to a four month high of $42.6 billion in October from a revised $36.2 billion in September, as imports rose to the highest level in 14 months.
A separate report showed that labor productivity rebounded in the third quarter, with the fastest rate of growth in two years.
The U.S. was scheduled to release a report on October factory orders at 10:00 ET.
The dollar moved higher against a basket of six other major currencies, with the U.S. dollar index up 0.27% to 100.43.
Demand for the dollar continued to be underpinned by expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates at its meeting next week.
According to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool, 100% of traders expect the Fed to raise interest rates at the meeting.