Recovering Oil Price Bolsters CAD

A negative start for WTI and Brent crude oil on Monday got commodity-tied FX to a bad start, but this swiftly reversed ahead of the close, with CAD, AUD and others outperforming the rest of G10 as WTI and Brent crude futures swung from losses of as much as 5% to positive territory ahead of the NY close. The moves followed wires reports that the Russian energy minister had met with domestic energy firms to discuss the option of delaying a planned easing of OPEC output curbs - effectively restricting supply for a longer period of time. Brent crude futures rose to just shy of $39/bbl after trading as low as $35.75 earlier in the day.

The USD index traded slightly higher, showing above the 100-dma at 94.262 for the first time May ahead of polling. Markets clearly remain fretful, with the VIX index holding close to multi-month highs one day out from voting.

Focus Tuesday remains on the US Presidential election, with all attention paid to the early results and swing states. The RBA rate decision is also due where the bank are expected to trim the cash rate target by 15bps.