Canadian Financial Close: C$ firm Friday

Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm — The Canadian dollar strengthened on Friday, amid a continued lack of any detail on possible tariffs from the United States.

The Canadian dollar settled at US$0.6975 or US$1=C$1.4336, which compares with Thursday’s close of US$0.6958 or US$1=C$1.4371.

New home prices in Canada dipped slightly in December, with the national new housing price index down 0.1 per cent on the month, according to a report from Statistics Canada. The index was up 0.1 per cent annually.

Early manufacturing data for December show a 0.6 per cent increase in Canadian manufacturing sales, said StatCan, with the full report due out in February.

Crude oil was steady, with West Texas crude oil down only 0.03 per cent at US$74.60 per barrel.

The TSX Composite Index gained 34.41 points to close at 25,468.49 points.