Canadian dollar and business outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, February 16 The Canadian dollar was slightly stronger against its US counterpart on Tuesday, as crude oil futures gained some ground.

At 8:35 a.m. CST the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7222 or C$1.3846 which compares with Friday’s North American close of US$0.7214, or C$1.3846.

At 8:35 a.m., New York Mercantile crude oil futures had gained US$0.07 to sit at US$29.51 a barrel, as Russia and Saudi Arabia, among others, proposed a production freeze.

However the expectation that Iran will oppose the proposal limited crude’s gains.

In Canadian domestic data, manufacturing sales increased 1.2 per cent to C$51.6 billion in December, their second consecutive advance, Statistics Canada said in a report on Tuesday.

The TSX was stronger in early activity, up 133.7 points at 8:35 a.m. CST to sit at 12,514.98.