Canadian Dollar And Business Outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, December 18 ‑ The Canadian dollar was trading at a weaker level compared to its US counterpart at 8:42 CST Tuesday, as US lawmakers came closer to finding a solution to the US ‘fiscal cliff’. The Canadian dollar suffered from the news, as more investors were interested in the US dollar, analysts said.

At 8:42 CST Tuesday, the Canadian dollar was at US$1.0155 or US$=C$0.9847, which compares with Monday’s North American close of US$1.0166 or US$=C$0.9837.

But, strong crude oil and gold prices helped to limit the declines in the Canadian currency, market watchers noted.

There was no significant Canadian economic data released on Tuesday morning. Traders were looking ahead to Friday when Statistics Canada is set to release gross domestic product and inflation data. Friday’s reports will mark the last two for 2012.

The TSX was down 15.37 points, or 0.12%, at 8:42 CST Tuesday morning to sit at 12,281.35.