BLBG: Canada’s Dollar Declines Versus Greenback After Japan’s Yen Intervention
Canada’s dollar fell after Japan intervened in currency markets to weaken the yen, sending the U.S. dollar higher against all of its 16 major counterparts.
The Canadian currency, which capped a fourth weekly advance on Oct. 28 on optimism Europe’s leaders will manage to contain the region’s debt crisis, outperformed a majority of its most- traded peers today. The loonie, as the currency is nicknamed, briefly pared losses after Statistics Canada reported the nation’s economy expanded in August for a third straight month.
“The big news is the Japan intervention,” said Firas Askari, head of currency trading in Toronto at Bank of Montreal’s BMO Capital Markets unit, by e-mail. “Domestic numbers are of secondary importance. The key determinants of the Canadian dollar’s fate are nondomestic in nature.”
Canada’s currency fell 0.5 percent to 99.63 cents per U.S. dollar at 8:41 a.m. in Toronto. The currency is headed for a 5.4 percent gain this month, the most since it rose 7.9 percent in July 2009. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0038.
Canada’s government bonds rose, pulling the benchmark 10- year yield down seven basis points, or 0.07 percentage point, to 2.36 percent. The price of the 3.25 percent security maturing in June 2021 climbed 61 cents to C$107.61.
Canadian government bonds have lost 1.5 percent this month, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch index.
Euro Plans
Euro-region’s leaders agreed on Oct. 27 to increase their bailout fund to 1 trillion euros ($1.4 trillion), recapitalize banks and convinced banks to write down their holdings of Greek debt by 50 percent. While the help of China and cooperation of the International Monetary Fund were immediately sought, pledges of hard cash are proving hard to come by as Group of 20 members press for more details of the plan.
“The details of the euro package will be the catalyst for how markets react for the rest of the calendar year,” said BMO’s Askari. “I like the Canadian dollar fundamentally, but if one anticipates another risk-off scenario before year-end, then there will probably be better levels to buy.”
Canada’s gross domestic product gained for a third month in August, rising 0.3 percent during the month on a seasonally adjusted basis. Economists expected a 0.2 percent gain, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey with 24 responses. The agency also raised its July growth estimate to 0.4 percent from an initially reported 0.3 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Halifax, Nova Scotia at cfournier3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net