The USD/CAD pair extended its recent pullback from the 1.3610-1.3615 supply zone, or yearly highs, facing a sixth straight day of selling pressure on Monday. However, USD/CAD losses stalled ahead of the psychological 1.3500 mark, allowing USD/CAD to rebound a few points from over a week lows hit in Asia.
Crude prices rose to five-month highs on worries about tighter global supplies, driven by OPEC+ production cuts, attacks on Russian refineries and upbeat manufacturing data from China. This in turn has supported the commodity-linked Canadian dollar, and coupled with a slight weakening in the U.S. dollar, USD/CAD has come under some downward pressure. In fact, OPEC+ has pledged to extend production cuts until the end of June.
Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday that Rosneft would focus on reducing production rather than exports in the second quarter. In addition, Ukrainian drone attacks paralyzed many Russian oil refineries, which is expected to reduce Russian oil exports. In addition, China’s manufacturing activity picked up for the first time in six months, adding to market optimism about fuel demand growth.