Canadian Dollar And Business Outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, August 16 – The Canadian dollar opened weaker against
its US counterpart on Friday, undermined by poor Canadian economic
data, market watchers said.
According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales declined 0.5%
to C$48.2 billion in June, making it the fourth decrease in the last
six months. Economists had forecast a 0.3% increase.
Further weakness came from reports that US housing starts were up
5.9% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 896,000 units,
analysts said.
At 8:33 CDT Friday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.9676 or
US$=C$1.0334 which compares with Thursday’s North American close of
US$0.9705, or US$=C$1.0304.
Gains seen in commodities, including gold, copper and crude oil,
helped to limit the loonie’s losses.
The TSX was up 5.42 points Friday morning at 8:33 CDT, to sit at
12,709.94.