Canadian dollar and business outlook

Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm — The Canadian dollar was slightly firmer Friday morning.

At 9:07 a.m. CDT the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.7161 or US$1=C$1.3965 which compares with Thursday’s close of US$0.7151 or US$1=C$1.3985.

Canadian investors acquired C$15.6 billion of foreign securities in March while foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian securities by C$4.2 billion. As a result, there was a net outflow of C$19.9 billion from the Canadian economy during the month, reported Statistics Canada.

The TSX was weaker in early activity, down 29.14 points at 9:07 CDT to trade at 25,868.34.

Crude oil was firm in early trade, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil up by 0.54 per cent at US$61.95 per barrel.