Canadian Dollar And Business Outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, March 14 The Canadian dollar was trading at a firmer level compared to its US counterpart at 9:04 CDT Thursday, underpinned by strong employment data in the US, analysts said.

According to the US government, unemployment aid applications dropped to a five month low in February. The four-week average also fell, and totaled to 346,750 claims, the lowest since March 2008.

At 9:04 CDT Thursday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.9745 or US$=C$1.0262, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$0.9734 or US$=C$1.0273.

Strong crude oil values also helped the Canadian currency move higher Thursday morning, market watchers noted.

In Canadian economic news, the country’s net foreign debt decreased C$4.8 billion to C$288.6 billion at the end of the fourth quarter in 2012, Statistics Canada reported.

StatsCan also said the New Housing Price Index in Canada rose 0.1% in January, following December’s increase of 0.2%.

The TSX was down 7.67 points, or 0.06%, at 9:04 CDT Thursday morning to sit at 12,736.44.