Canadian dollar and business outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, December 11 The Canadian dollar weakened against its US counterpart on Friday as crude oil futures fell to a seven-year-low.

At 8:40 a.m. CST the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7314 or C$1.3672 which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.7336, or C$1.3632.

At 8:40 a.m., New York Mercantile crude oil futures had lost US$0.52 to sit at US$36.24 a barrel, dragged down by an announcement from the International Energy Association.

The IEA expects demand for crude oil to slow, extending the commodity’s supply glut.

In Canadian domestic data, Canada’s net foreign asset position increased C$61 billion in the third-quarter to reach C$287.9 billion. The growth largely reflected the impact of a weaker Canadian dollar, which increased the value of Canada’s international assets more than it raised the value of its liabilities, Statistics Canada said in a report on Friday.

The TSX was weaker in early activity, down 117 points at 8:40 a.m. CST to sit at 12,899.57.