The Canadian dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, recovering from an earlier 11-day low as gains for U.S. stocks futures and higher oil prices offset weaker-than-expected domestic manufacturing data.
Canadian factory sales were down by 0.2 per cent in February from January on lower sales of motor vehicles, as well as wood products, Statistics Canada said. Analysts had forecast no change. Separate data from Statistics Canada showed that foreign investors bought a net $12.05-billion in Canadian securities in February, led by corporate bonds.U.S. stocks were boosted by stellar results from blue-chip companies, while U.S. crude oil futures rose 0.4 per cent to $63.65 a barrel as falling Venezuelan and Iranian exports and fighting in Libya raised concerns of tightening supply.At 9:01 a.m., the Canadian dollar was trading nearly unchanged at 1.3370 to the greenback, or 74.79 U.S.
The 11-day low came after a Bank of Canada quarterly survey on Monday showed that Canadian business sentiment has turned slightly negative, weighed by a weak energy sector, a housing slowdown and global trade tensions.Canadian government bond prices edged lower across the yield curve, with the two-year down 2 cents to yield 1.618 per cent and the 10-year falling 13 cents to yield 1.771 per cent.