Canadian Financial Close: C$ Climbs With Central Bank Decision

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, March 16 – The Canadian dollar posted strong gains against its US counterpart Wednesday, after the US central bank left the interest rate unchanged. Strong Canadian manufacturing data also gave the market support. New numbers show sales jumped 2.3% in January.

The Canadian dollar closed at US$0.7621 or US$1 = 1.3122 on Wednesday.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose on Wednesday, taking strength from a brighter outlook for the crude oil sector. Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers have agreed to curb production even in Iran chooses not to.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 77.82 points, or 0.58%, to 13,478.13.

Canada’s agricultural sector performed as follows:
AGT Food and Ingredients—–dn $ 0.13 at $ 37.74
Agrium Incorporated———-dn $ 1.08 at $118.16
Buhler Industries————– $ 0.09 at $ 4.86
Maple Leaf Foods————-up $ 0.02 at $ 26.80
Potash Corp. of Sask———dn $ 0.20 at $ 24.25

(All figures are in Canadian dollars.)