Canadian Dollar Shows Mixed Trading Against Majors
Thursday, the Canadian dollar showed mixed performance against its major counterparts as oil held steady above $79 a barrel as investors waited for U.S. government oil data for direction.
The loonie declined from early Asian session’s 3-week high against its U.S. and Japanese counterparts. The loonie also edged down against the Australian dollar, while showed choppy trading versus the European currency.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration data, delayed by a day because of the Veteran’s Day holiday, is expected to show a 600,000-barrel increase in crude stockpiles in the world’s top energy user.
U.S. crude futures gained 8 cents to $79.36 a barrel at 1:46 a.m. ET, after closing 23 cents higher on Wednesday. Brent crude futures were up 6 cents at $78.01 a barrel.
The market has gained 77 percent so far this year but is still about 46 percent below the record high of more than $147 a barrel it hit in July last year.
Against the US dollar, the Canadian currency lost ground after hitting a 3-week high of 1.0420 during early Asian deals on Thursday. At 4:20 am ET, the loonie reached a high of 1.0490 against the greenback, compared to 1.0452 hit late New York Wednesday. The next downside target level for the loonie is seen around 1.067.
The loonie largely bounced between 1.5673 and 1.5636 against the European currency during Thursday’s early deals. However, the loonie rose to a 3-week high of 1.5632 before showing range bound movement at 2:45 am ET. The euro-loonie pair that closed Wednesday’s North American session at 1.5664 is now worth 1.5668.
The Canadian currency that climbed to a 15-day high of 86.33 against the Japanese yen during today’s early Asian deals weakened thereafter. The loonie-yen pair is currently trading at 85.59 with 84.8 seen as the next target level.
Japan’s producer prices as measured by the corporate goods price index declined in October after remaining flat in the previous two months, an official report showed today. On an annual basis, producer prices continued to fall, although at a slower pace.
The Bank of Japan said the corporate goods price index dropped 0.7% month-on-month in October, after staying flat in the previous two months. Year-on-year, producer prices were down 6.7%, smaller than the 8% fall in September, but bigger than economists’ expectations of a 6% drop. Annually, producer prices have been declining continuously since the beginning of the year.
The Canadian dollar that closed Wednesday’s New York deals at 0.9721 against the Australian dollar hit a low of 0.9778 during Thursday’s early Asian deals. On the downside, 0.984 is seen as the next target level for the Canadian currency. The aussie-loonie pair is now worth 0.9769.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said today that the number of people employed rose 24,500 from September, topping economists’ expectations for a drop of 10,000 jobs. However, the jobless rate rose to 5.8 percent in October from 5.7 percent in September.
The Melbourne Institute’s monthly survey of consumer inflationary expectations in Australia showed that median expected inflation rate dropped to 3.2% in November from 3.5% in October, after remaining at 3.5% for three months.
From the U.S., the weekly jobless claims report for the week ended November 07 and the monthly budget statement for October have been slated for release.
The Canadian new housing price index for September is also due in the North American session
