THE Canadian dollar weakened against the greenback on Thursday (Mar 14), and the yield on benchmark government debt climbed.
The loonie was trading 0.1 per cent lower at C$1.3477 to the greenback, or 74.2 US cents, after trading in a range of 1.346 to 1.3481.
The euro was slightly lower at US$1.0942 on Thursday, with no major European economic data to inject volatility, taking its fall for the year to around 0.9 per cent. Sterling was up 0.1 per cent at US$1.2811, up 0.6 per cent for the year.
Bitcoin continued its upward march, hitting a record US$73,803. Exchange-traded bitcoin funds and optimism that the Fed will cut interest rates this year have boosted the biggest cryptocurrency.
The dollar was little changed at 147.75 yen, nursing losses of 2 per cent over the last two weeks as investors have positioned for the Bank of Japan to potentially raise interest rates out of negative territory at its meeting next week.
Sources told Reuters that Japan’s central bank will debate ending negative rates if big firms’ wage talks yield strong results.
Preliminary results of the spring wage negotiations are due on Friday, with several of the country’s biggest companies having already agreed to meet union demands for pay increases.
Elsewhere, the dollar climbed 0.1 per cent against the Swedish crown , to 10.239 crowns, after data showed Sweden’s headline inflation slowed more than expected in February.
Market pricing on Thursday showed traders see a roughly 75 per cent chance of the Fed cutting rates by June. REUTERS
