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Canadian dollar weakens 0.2% against the greenback
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Wholesale trade falls 1.7% in February
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Price of U.S. oil declines 0.7%
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Ten-year yield touches highest level since March 10
TORONTO, April 17 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, as the greenback notched broadbased gains and investors awaited domestic inflation data this week that could help guide expectations for the Bank of Canada policy outlook. The U.S. dollar rose against a basket of major currencies as traders anticipated another interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve, while the price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, was down 0.7% at $81.98 a barrel. Canada's consumer price index report for March, due to be released on Tuesday, is expected to show inflation slowed to an annual rate of 4.3% from 5.2% in February. Last Wednesday, the Bank of Canada said it would take longer to bring inflation down to its 2% target than had been expected in January and that it was still prepared to raise interest rates if necessary. Data on Monday showed that Canadian wholesale trade decreased 1.7% in February from January and that foreign investors bought a net C$4.62 billion ($3.46 billion) in Canadian securities in February, led by corporate bonds. The Canadian dollar was down 0.2% at 1.3390 to the greenback, or 74.68 U.S. cents, after trading in a range of 1.3343 to 1.3399. On Friday, it touched its strongest intraday level in two months at 1.33. Speculators have trimmed their bearish bets on the Canadian dollar, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday. As of April 11, net short positions had dipped to 56,579 contracts after touching 58,509 in the prior week, the most since January 2019. Canadian government bond yields were up across the curve, tracking the move in U.S. Treasuries. The 10-year touched its highest since March 10 at 3.09% before dipping to 3.085%, up 4.3 basis points on the day. (Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Paul Simao)
