Canadian Dollar And Business Outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, June 24 The Canadian dollar was slightly lower on Tuesday after four days of gains that lifted currency to its highest level relative to its U.S. counterpart since the beginning of January, analysts say.

At 9:13 CDT Tuesday morning, the Canadian dollar dipped to US$0.9318 or US$ = C$1.0731, down slightly from Monday’s close of US$0.9323.

In the past week, the Canadian currency had jumped almost 1.2 U.S. cents as oil and gas prices advanced due to the political unrest in Iraq and the tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

Stronger than expected inflation data gave support to the Canadian dollar as it raised expectations that the Bank of Canada could increase interest rates sooner than thought.

Crude oil contracts went higher with the August contract rising six cents to sit at US$106.23 a barrel.

August gold bullion rose to US$1,324.80 an ounce, which was once again due to political tensions in Iraq and between Russia and Ukraine. Copper remained unchanged at US$3.15 a pound following a three-cent rise on Monday.

The TSX was up 29.38 points to sits at 15,135.01 at 9:13 CDT Tuesday morning.