Canadian Dollar Slides As Oil Prices Drop

The Canadian dollar weakened against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Tuesday amid falling oil prices, as the European Union has rejected a plan to prevent the bloc's vessels from carrying Russian oil to third countries.

Bloomberg reported that EU officials discarded the proposed ban on transporting oil, but supported curbs for insurers.

Concerns that lockdowns in China would hurt demand also underpinned oil prices.

Shanghai and Beijing tightened COVID-19 curbs on Monday amid compliance to a strict "zero-Covid" policy to combat the outbreak.

The move by the US Federal Reserve and other central banks to tighten monetary policies in the wake of high inflation is sparking fears about an economic slowdown and hurting equities.

The loonie reached as low as 1.3769 against the euro, its weakest level since April 4. On the downside, 1.41 is possibly seen as its next support level.

The loonie fell below the key 1.30 level against the greenback, touching a 1-1/2-year low of 1.3037. The loonie may find support around the 1.32 area.

The loonie retreated to 0.9076 against the aussie, from more than a 3-month high of 0.9008 seen at 9 pm ET. The loonie is likely to test support around the 0.92 level, if it drops further.

In contrast, the loonie rebounded to 100.47 against the yen, from nearly a 2-week high of 99.60 it touched at 9 pm ET. The loonie is seen finding resistance around the 102.5 level.

Looking ahead, German ZEW economic sentiment index for May is due in the European session.