Canadian Dollar Slides On Falling Oil Prices

The Canadian dollar fell against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Tuesday, as oil prices slumped on concerns about limited storage capacity as a result of the collapse in crude oil demand due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Crude for June delivery declined $1.71 to $11.07 per barrel.

Fears that storage at Cushing, Oklahoma, could reach full capacity soon and production cuts might not be enough to counter the huge fall in demand pressured oil prices.

Although the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies have agreed record output cuts of nearly 10 million barrels per day from May 1, analysts hope that it won't be sufficient to counter the falling demand from the pandemic.

The global death toll from the novel virus topped 210,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. As the U.S. death toll surpassed 55,000, President Donald Trump said that deaths in the country from the virus could reach as high as 70,000.

The head of the World Health Organization warned that the new pandemic was far from over and that he was concerned about increasing trends in Africa, eastern Europe, Latin America and some Asian countries.

The loonie declined to 76.22 against the yen, from a 4-day high of 76.51 hit at 7:15 pm ET. The next likely support for the loonie is seen around the 72.00 level. Pulling away from a 5-day high of 1.4015 seen at 5:15 pm ET, the loonie fell to 1.4073 against the greenback. On the downside, 1.45 is possibly seen as the next support level for the loonie.

The loonie dropped to 1.5228 against the euro, from a 4-day high of 1.5167 registered at 5:30 pm ET. The loonie may challenge support around the 1.55 level. The loonie weakened to 0.9087 against the aussie, from Monday's closing value of 0.9072. The loonie is likely to face support around the 0.92 region, if it drops again.

Looking ahead, U.S. wholesale inventories for March, S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for February and consumer confidence index for April will be featured in the New York session.