The Canadian dollar dropped against its major counterparts in the early European deals on Thursday, as oil prices weakened after the operator of the Forties pipeline announced that it is planning to complete the repair around Christmas.
Crude for February delivery fell $0.09 to $58.00 per barrel.
“Work on the pipeline is progressing well and based on current estimates Ineos is planning to complete the repair around Christmas,” Ineos said in a statement.
Ineos said it could bring the pipeline progressively back to normal rates early in the new year.
The pipeline has a capacity to carry around 450,000 barrels per day crude to Britain.
Sentiment faded as market participants offered a muted reaction to the passage of major U.S. tax reform and started paring positions ahead of the Christmas holiday. The focus remained on a defining election in Catalonia that will decide the future of Spain.
The currency was moderately higher against its major rivals in the Asian session.
The loonie dropped to 1.2839 against the greenback, from an early high of 1.2822. Further downtrend may take the loonie to a support around the 1.29 region.
The loonie edged down to 1.5255 against the euro, after having advanced to 1.5216 at 2:15 am ET. Continuation of the loonie’s downtrend may see it challenging support around the 1.54 mark.
Having advanced to a 6-day high of 0.9821 against the aussie at 12:15 am ET, the loonie reversed direction and dropped to 0.9839. If the loonie drops further, 1.00 is possibly seen as its next support level.
Following more than a 2-week high of 88.55 hit versus the yen at 2:45 am ET, the loonie eased back to 88.39. The loonie is likely to find support around the 86.5 area.
The Bank of Japan kept its monetary stimulus unchanged as widely expected.
Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and his board members decided by an 8-1 majority vote to hold its target of raising the amount of outstanding JGB holdings at an annual pace of about JPY 80 trillion.
Looking ahead, Canada CPI for November and retail sales for October, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended December 16, final GDP data for the third quarter, leading indicator for November and Federal House finance Agency’s house price index for October as well as Eurozone advanced consumer sentiment for December are slated for release in the New York session.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com
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