The Canadian dollar edged higher against the greenback on Tuesday, recovering from an earlier near three-week low, as investors positioned themselves ahead of a speech the next day by Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz.

Canada's central bank governor on Wednesday will deliver an economic progress report, followed by a news conference. After interest rate hikes in July and September, markets will be looking for clues as to how aggressively the bank may tighten from here.

"There is more room to hike," said Mazen Issa, senior FX strategist at TD Securities. "We don't think there is a reason yet to lean against the [Canadian] currency."

Money markets see a 40 per cent chance of another hike in October, while a hike by December is almost fully discounted.

It will be a hawkish sign if Poloz says the economy is still benefiting from considerable stimulus, Issa said.

At 4 p.m. EDT, the Canadian dollar was trading at $1.2353 to the greenback, or 80.95 cents US, up 0.1 per cent.

The currency's strongest level of the session was $1.2330, while it touched its weakest since Sept. 6 at $1.2413.

The modest gain for the loonie came as the U.S. dollar climbed against a basket of major currencies and as prices of oil fell.

U.S. crude prices settled 34 cents lower at US$51.88 a barrel after investors took profits following a rally to 26-month highs.

The greenback reached five-week highs against the euro after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was seen as striking a slightly hawkish tone on rates.

Canadian government bond prices were lower across the yield curve in sympathy with U.S. Treasuries. The two-year dipped 1 cent to yield 1.604 per cent and the 10-year declined 15 cents to yield 2.114 per cent.

On Friday, the 10-year yield touched its highest since October 2014 at 2.135 per cent.