Canadian Dollar And Business Outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, April 9 The Canadian dollar was firmer compared to its US counterpart at 8:57 CDT Tuesday, underpinned by strong Canadian housing starts data, analysts said.

At 8:57 CDT Tuesday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.9842 or US$=C$1.0161, which compares with Monday’s North American close of US$0.9830 or US$=C$1.0173.

Canadian housing starts were at an annualized rate of 184,028 units in March, up from 183,207 in February and above expectations of 175,000.

Strong commodity prices also helped to underpin the value of the Canadian dollar Tuesday morning.

However, weak Chinese economic data limited the loonie’s upside potential. According to Chinese government data, the country’s consumer prices increased at a rate of 2.1 per cent in March, down from 3.2 per cent in February.

The TSX was up 12.71 points, or 0.10%, at 8:57 CDT Tuesday morning to sit at 12,344.56.