* Canadian dollar at C$1.2961, or 77.15 U.S. cents
* Loonie touched weakest since June 3 at C$1.3086
* Bond prices lower across the maturity curve
* 10-year yield touches lowest since Feb. 12 at 1.052 pct
By Fergal Smith
TORONTO, June 16 The Canadian dollar ended lower
against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday but bounced off its
weakest levels in almost two weeks as markets gyrated globally
with the shooting death of a British lawmaker who backed Britain
remaining in the European Union.
Sterling advanced and the greenback pulled back after
British Member of Parliament Jo Cox was killed in the street in
her constituency in northern England.
Investors are broadly cautious ahead of the June 23 vote,
with economists warning that a so-called Brexit could trigger
financial market volatility and weaken the outlook for the
global economy and commodity prices.
“Money is already reducing exposure to risk, out of stocks
worldwide, commodities are following suit, bonds are being
hoovered up, pushing yields to unprecedented levels, and
commodity currencies are getting crushed,” said Michael Goshko,
a corporate risk manager at Western Union Business Solutions.
“The real question is how far the trend continues and how
disorderly it becomes,” he said.
British support for leaving the bloc in a June 23 referendum
has risen to 53 percent, a telephone poll showed on Thursday,
the highest support recorded by the pollster for the “Leave” or
“Brexit” campaign in more than three years.
The Canadian dollar settled at C$1.2961 to the
greenback, or 77.15 U.S. cents, weaker than Wednesday’s close of
C$1.2926, or 77.36 U.S. cents.
It had touched its weakest since June 3 at C$1.3086 during
the session, while its strongest level was C$1.2897.
Oil prices slid 4 percent for a sixth straight fall and
European shares hit a four-month low, weighing on Canada’s
risk-sensitive commodity-linked currency.
Canadian growth is likely to be flat or slightly negative in
the second quarter due to the impact of the Alberta wildfires
before an outsized recovery takes hold in the third quarter, the
Bank of Canada said on Wednesday.
Foreign investors bought a net C$15.52 billion ($11.94
billion) in Canadian securities in April, the fourth straight
month of relatively significant purchases, Statistics Canada
said.
Canadian government bond prices were mixed across the
maturity curve, with the two-year price down 6
Canadian cents to yield 0.512 percent and the benchmark 10-year
fell 25 Canadian cents to yield 1.107 percent.
The 10-year yield hit its lowest since Feb. 12 at 1.052
percent.
Source: Reuters