TORONTO - The Canadian dollar edged higher on Monday, supported by firmness in global stock markets, but stayed mostly range-bound as investors shrugged off a do-little G20 summit.
The leaders of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies meeting in Toronto agreed on Sunday to take different paths for cutting budget deficits and making their banking systems safer. Most countries had contrasting priorities, reflecting the uneven economic recovery across the globe.
Overall, the meeting was seen as "nothing particularly earth-shattering, but solid, steady progress on most key files," BMO Capital Markets said in a note to clients.
There was some relief that the G20 was not overly restrictive on fiscal stimulus measures or regulation, said J.P. Blais, vice president foreign exchange products at BMO Capital Markets.
"There were some concerns about how restrictive they were going to be and what kind of language they would use," said Blais.
"There were no tape bombs. Nothing out of the ordinary came out."
At 8:00 a.m. (1200 GMT), the Canadian dollar was at C$1.0347 to the U.S. dollar, or 96.65 U.S. cents, up from Friday's close at C$1.0359 to the U.S. dollar, or 96.53 U.S. cents.
Analysts said that while targets for debt and deficit ratios included in the final G20 communique were a mild positive, they were skeptical about their implementation and warned markets are focused on broader issues.
With no domestic data on tap, Canadian government bond prices largely followed moves by U.S. Treasuries, which ticked up ahead of key data later in the week.
The two-year government bond gained 2 Canadian cents to yield 1.537 percent, while the 10-year bond was up 5 Canadian cents to yield 3.192 percent.
