C$ edges lower, commodity prices cushion drop

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(Reuters)

By Frank Pingue

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's dollar added to recent losses and was slightly lower versus the U.S. currency early on Monday, but lofty prices for key Canadian exports like oil and goldits cushioned its pullback.

The Canadian currency took a hit last week after the Bank of Canada and Governor Mark Carney warned the currency's rally toward parity with the greenback is a risk to growth and discussed the possibility of intervention.

"Obviously Carney's comments and the Bank of Canada statement have taken a little bit of wind out of the sail of the Canadian dollar near term," said Firas Askari, head of foreign exchange trading at BMO Capital Markets.

"But at the end of the day though, the things that were driving the Canadian dollar are still there."

Helping to keep the domestic currency from falling further was a backdrop of steady commodity prices. Oil retreated from last week's one-year high but held near $80 a barrel, while gold prices held above $1.050 an ounce.

At 7:40 a.m. (1140 GMT), the Canadian unit was at C$1.0530 to the U.S. dollar, or 94.97 U.S. cents, down from C$1.0519 to the U.S. dollar, or 95.07 U.S. cents, at Friday's close.

Domestic bond prices, with no Canadian data to consider until later this week, were flat to slightly lower across the curve alongside a similar move in the U.S. Treasury market.

(Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)