The Canadian dollar reached an all-time low in January 2002 when it was at 61.79 cents per USA dollar.
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The loonie was at 69.92 cents USA, down 0.22 of a cent, just after noon.
“You could imagine the situation is worse today than in the 1990s”, David Doyle an analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd. said from Toronto, who first predicted in February 2015 that the currency would fall below 70 US cents.
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Sadiq Adatia, chief investment officer at Sun Life Global Investments, said the Bank of Canada is eyeing the low price of oil as it considers where to take its benchmark interest rates after cutting them twice a year ago. 08 of a cent to end trading at 69.63 cents U.S.
At one point in early afternoon trading, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate was trading for as low as US$29.93 before it regained some ground.
Canada’s main stock index rose on Thursday after falling to a fresh 2-1/2-year low, as a rally in crude oil prices helped support energy stocks, while losses were unwound for financial stocks.
Cieszynski said the dollar’s decline has been motivated primarily by falling oil prices – and their potential implications for monetary policy.
The loonie mostly traded below 70 USA cents between 1997 and 2003, a period when manufacturing made up a larger part of exports than oil.
Uncertain prospects for global growth are tamping down demand for Canada’s natural resources, Leblond said.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 30.68 points at 12,404.58 but had been in the red.
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Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures were down 0.09 percent at 7:15 a.m. ET, while S&P 500 e-mini futures were down 0.08 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures were down 0.28 percent.
