CAD Pressured As Oil Briefly Falls Below $101 per barrel

Heading into today’s European trading session, the risk tone is mixed. Asia-Pacific indices are weaker, yet volatility measures are subdued and safe-havens overall pressured.

Leading Asia-Pacific indices to the downside is the Hang Seng at -2.26%, followed by the ASX 200 at -0.98%, the Topix at -0.85% and the Nikkei 225 at -0.58%. The CSI 300 is positive on the session at +0.81%.

In the FX complex, focus revolved around USD, which continued its decline from yesterday’s multi-year highs, providing further reprieve for the majority of its major counterparts.

Despite USD’s pullback, concerns surrounding global growth remain elevated, keeping commodity markets pressured, resulting in WTI briefly dipping below $101 per barrel to test last week’s low. Unsurprisingly, ongoing weakness in oil prices has also weighed on CAD, with CADJPY briefly slipping below the 100.00 handle.

Looking ahead, today’s economic calendar is light on tier one data, keeping the market’s focus fixed on ongoing themes, such as the global growth outlook, China’s growth outlook, monetary policy outlooks and the prevailing risk tone.