Canadian dollar and business outlook

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Glacier FarmMedia MarketsFarm – The Canadian dollar was holding steady Friday morning.

At 9:07 a.m. CDT the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.7339 or US$1=C$1.3626, which compares with Thursday’s close of US$0.7342 or US$1=C$1.3620.

Canadian investors acquired a record C$35.6 billion of foreign securities in March while foreign investors added C$14.4 billion of Canadian securities during the month, according to a report from Statistics Canada. As a result, there was a net outflow of C$21.2 billion from the Canadian economy.

Crude oil was relatively unchanged in early activity, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil up by 0.18 per cent at US$79.37 per barrel.

The TSX was stronger, up 71.29 points at 9:07 CDT to trade at 22,371.12 points.