GBP/CAD is slightly declining on Monday, after starting the week on a bullish note. Currently, the pair is trading at 1.6705, down 0.08% as of 11:15 AM UTC. In the morning, the price hit a daily peak at 1.6924. The British poundCanadian dollar pair continues to follow a downtrend that started on March 9 and might get closer to updating the lowest level since October last year.

Oil Prices Extend Declines, Putting Pressure on CAD

Earlier today, the Loonie has weakened amid declining oil prices, which haven’t bottomed out yet. At the end of last week, several governments around the world ordered lockdowns and tightened the travel ban measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic that has already hit oil demand.

Currently, WTI and Brent futures trade below $23 and $26, respectively. Oil prices have tumbled over 60% year-to-date, with most of the losses coming after Saudi Arabia escalated a price war against Russia earlier this month, thus dissolving the OPEC+ alliance.

Saudi Arabia’s price cut and output increase come amid a deteriorating demand in oil prices caused by the rapid spread of the new coronavirus. The new strain has infected over 325,000 people and killed more than 14,000 worldwide.

Joseph McMonigle, a senior energy policy analyst at Hedgeye Potomac Research, said in a note to investors:

We believe oil prices will continue to fall into the teens in the short term amid disaster demand destruction, building global stocks and no production limits after April 1.”

Vitol’s head of research Giovanni Serio said that demand would decline by more than 10 million barrels per day, which is 10% of daily global oil consumption.

“Demand destruction this year depends on how many countries follow an Italian-style lockdown. The drop in Italian consumption has been dramatic. If you extrapolate it to the rest of Europe, and particularly the US, then you can get as bearish as you like,” the executive of the world’s biggest oil trader said.

Besides dealing with a declining oil market, the Canadian economy is struggling with the virus itself. The country’s health minister said yesterday that more severe measures were needed. Canada has confirmed almost 1,500 cases.

Elsewhere, the UK is also taking tighter measures against the virus, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling everyone to consider the government’s advice on social distancing.

Despite recent weakness, the Loonie managed to recover and even dominate the pair, as the UK has way more COVID-19 cases and deaths. Besides, Britain’s trade talks with the European Union have been paralyzed.