TORONTO _ The Canadian dollar headed lower Monday, ahead of a monetary speech by the Bank of Canada.
The loonie fell 0.45 of a cent to 90.90 cents U.S.
BoC senior deputy governor Carolyn Wilkins was slated to give a speech about the ``new economic reality'' for Canada coming out of the Great Recession, and what this may mean for the currency. The speech was scheduled for 12:45 p.m., with no press conference.
The weakness in the dollar comes as traders continue to digest the slew of recent economic events, with little else on the radar for this week.
Last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled that it was not considering raising short-term interest rates from the current near zero any time soon.
Meanwhile, the BoC also said that it will continue to take a hands-off approach to the loonie, and added that trying to interfere with its direction would hurt the bank's ability to pursue independent monetary policy.
Economists had long suggested that bank governor Stephen Poloz's ``dovish'' talk on interest rates has helped take some of the shine off the loonie in a move to bolster exports.
The speech came the same week that Statistics Canada said inflation was unchanged from July, with the consumer price index rising at an annual rate of 2.1 per cent in August.
However, core inflation, the number the BoC closely monitors and which excludes some items from the volatile energy and food categories, also rose by 2.1 per cent, after an increase of 1.7 per cent in July.
The central bank had set a target inflation rate at two per cent.
In commodities, the October crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained six cents to US$92.47 a barrel, December bullion fell $1.10 to US$1,215.50 an ounce, and December copper dipped five cents to US$3.05 a pound.
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