TORONTO (Reuters) – The Canadian dollar edged lower against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday as the price of oil, one of Canada’s major exports, fell and rising tensions over Ukraine bolstered demand for safe-haven assets, including the greenback.
Equity markets globally lost ground and the U.S. dollar was set to break a two-day losing steak after Russian-backed separatists accused Ukraine government forces of opening fire.
It followed optimism at the start of the week that a diplomatic solution would be found to prevent a potential attack by Russia on Ukraine.
Oil prices fell as talks to resurrect a nuclear deal with Iran entered their final stages.
U.S. crude prices were down 2.4% at $91.45 a barrel, while the Canadian dollar weakened 0.1% to 1.2696 per greenback, or 78.76 U.S. cents. The currency traded in a range of 1.2681 to 1.2734.
Domestic data showed that foreign investors bought a net C$37.56 billion in Canadian securities in December, led by new shares resulting from cross-border mergers and acquisitions.
Canadian government bond yields were lower across the curve, tracking the move in U.S. Treasuries.
The 10-year eased 2.7 basis points to 1.932%, after touching on Wednesday its highest intraday level in three years at 1.995%.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Paul Simao)
