(Adds dealer quotes and details throughout, updates prices)
* Canadian dollar loses 0.9% against the greenback
* Touches its weakest level since Sept. 22 at 1.2799
* Price of U.S. oil settles 13.1% lower
* Canadian 10-year yield tumbles 18.2 basis points
By Fergal Smith
TORONTO, Nov 26 (Reuters) – The Canadian dollar on Friday
posted its biggest decline in more than three months against its
U.S. counterpart as news of a new, possibly vaccine-resistant
coronavirus variant spooked global financial markets.
Global stocks and oil, one of Canada’s major
exports, tumbled as investors worried that the variant could
dampen economic growth.
Scientists say the variant, detected in South Africa,
Botswana and Hong Kong, has an unusual combination of mutations,
may be able to evade immune responses and could be more
transmissible.
“Canada is falling in conjunction with the rest of the
commodity complex,” said Michael Goshko, corporate risk manager
at Western Union Business Solutions.
“That’s a move on ‘shoot first and ask questions later’,
together with thin markets.”
Market participants noted the drop on Wall Street was likely
exaggerated by the thin volume during the shortened
post-Thanksgiving holiday session.
U.S. crude prices settled down 13.1% at $68.15 a
barrel, while the Canadian dollar was trading 0.9% lower at
1.2760 to the greenback, or 78.37 U.S. cents, its biggest
decline since Aug. 19.
It touched its weakest intraday level since Sept. 22 at
1.2799.
For the week, the currency was down 1%, its sixth straight
weekly decline. That’s the longest losing streak since August
2019.
The amount of tightening expected by the Bank of Canada next
year fell by about 16 basis points to 122 basis points, money
market data showed, while Canadian government bond yields
tumbled across the curve, tracking the move in U.S. Treasuries.
The 10-year rate touched its lowest level since
Nov. 9 at 1.577% before recovering to 1.582%, down 18.2 basis
points on the day.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Paul Simao and Alex
Richardson)
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Keywords: CANADA FOREX/ (UPDATE 1)
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