Canadian Dollar Falls Amid Risk Aversion On Renewed Trade Concerns

The Canadian dollar declined against its major counterparts in the early European session on Thursday amid risk aversion, as the arrest of the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies sparked worries that trade tensions between the U.S and China will not be resolved anytime soon.

China urged Canada to release Meng Wanzhou and said it firmly opposes and strongly protests over such kind of actions, which seriously harm the human rights of the victim.

Oil prices fell as investors await the outcome of ongoing OPEC meeting in Vienna aimed to prop up oil prices.

Crude for January delivery fell $1.22 to $51.74 per barrel.

The currency has been trading lower against its most major counterparts in the Asian session.

The loonie declined to 83.92 against the yen, its weakest since September 7. On the downside, 82.00 is seen as the next likely support level for the loonie.

The loonie slipped to a 1-1/2-year low of 1.3428 versus the greenback and a 2-1/2-month low of 1.5233 versus the euro, from its early highs of 1.3351 and 1.5146, respectively. If the loonie falls further, 1.36 and 1.54 are possibly seen as its next support levels versus the greenback and the euro, respectively.

The loonie pared gains to 0.9704 against the aussie, from a high of 0.9669 hit at 10:15 pm ET. The loonie is poised to find support around the 0.99 mark.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that Australia retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent on month in October, coming in at A$26.986 billion.

That was in line with expectations following the 0.2 percent increase in September.

Looking ahead, at 8:15 am ET, U.S. ADP private payrolls data for November is scheduled for release.

In the New York session, U.S. and Canadian trade data for October, U.S. factory orders for October, ISM services PMI for November, weekly jobless claims for the week ended December 1 as well as Canada Ivey PMI for November are set for release.

At 12:15 pm ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is due to speak about the national economy at the Georgia Economic Outlook series in Atlanta.