Canadian Dollar Weakened by Oil Price Slide and Tightening US Interest Rates

The Canadian dollar continued its downward trend on Monday as oil prices fell and expectations of further U.S. monetary tightening weighed on the currency.

The loonie has been under pressure in recent weeks due to the widening gap between U.S. and Canadian interest rates, making U.S. assets relatively more attractive.

At 9:46 a.m. ET, the U.S. dollar was trading around C$1.4014, putting the Canadian dollar at roughly 71.36 U.S. cents, near its weakest level since August 7.

The decline of the Canadian dollar has accelerated over the past two weeks, with the Bank of Canada data showing the official USD/CAD rate rising from 1.3784 on September 8 to 1.4002 on September 18.