Canadian Financial Close: C$ levels off at 80 U.S. cents

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, Oct. 3 – The Canadian dollar made slight gains today, closing at 80.0 cents U.S. or C$1.25 per US$1. It closed yesterday at 79.97 cents U.S., or C$1.2505 per US$1. The loonie was buoyed by comments from Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Sylvain Leduc, who said the economy is strong but the growth pace is expected to slow over the new few quarters. The country also faces challenges with lower productivity and obstacles to business growth beyond a certain point, he said.

WTI crude lost nine cents U.S. to settle the day at US$50.37, a decline of 0.18%.

The S&P/TSX gained 23.51 points (0.15%) closing at 15,728.51, which sets a new 100-day high. Materials and financial sectors led the way, gaining 0.8% and 0.4% respectively.

Canada’s agricultural sector performed as follows:

AGT Food and Ingredients—–dn $ 0.27 at $ 24.67
Agrium Incorporated———-dn $ 0.25 at $133.54
Buhler Industries————up $ 0.14 at $ 4.59
Maple Leaf Foods————-dn $ 0.50 at $ 34.63
Potash Corp. of Sask———dn $ 0.03 at $ 23.96

(All figures are in Canadian dollars.)