TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's dollar dipped against the U.S. currency on Thursday morning ahead of a large list of economic figures, including monthly domestic growth data.
Canada's gross domestic product figures for October, due at 8:30 a.m., will provide a first look at how the fourth-quarter recovery has begun after September GDP shrank 0.1 percent and third-quarter economic expansion was at a disappointing 1.0 percent annual rate.
Analysts polled by Reuters call for a 0.3 percent uptick in October. It's the last major piece of domestic data before the Christmas and New Year holidays.
At 7:45 a.m. (1245 GMT), the Canadian currency was at C$1.0149 to the U.S. dollar, or 98.53 U.S. cents, down from Wednesday's North American session close at C$1.0142 to the U.S. dollar, or 98.60 U.S. cents.
"The Canadian dollar is sitting slightly softer than yesterday. There's nothing particularly exciting in terms of the broader positioning, it's been familiar territory dating back to late September sitting in the par to C$1.03 range," said Eric Lascelles, chief Canada macro strategist at TD Securities.
"We think GDP could be a touch soft and I wonder whether the market is gearing up for that possibility by selling the Canadian dollar."
Still, he noted that a busy day for U.S. economic data could also have a lot of influence, with data for weekly jobless claims, November personal income and consumption, and durable goods orders. As well, final figures for December's Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index are due and November new home sales.
Canadian bond prices were mildly lower, tracking U.S. Treasuries, ahead of the data rush. The two-year bond was down 3 Canadian cents to yield 1.680 percent, while the 10-year bond slipped 16 Canadian cents to yield 3.188 percent.
(Reporting by Ka Yan Ng, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
