Canadian Financial Close: Loonie advances watching weak US data

Canadian Financial Close: Loonie advances watching weak US data

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, March 28 – The Canadian dollar advanced against its US counterpart on Monday as weak US economic data weighed down the American greenback. The personal consumption expenditures price index, which is used as a measurement of inflation, dropped 0.1% from January but was up 1.0% from February of a year ago.

The Canadian dollar closed at US$0.7587 or US$1 = 1.3181 on Monday.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose as gains in financial stocks were exaggerated by weak volumes. While markets were closed on Friday many traders hung to the sidelines on Easter Monday.

Losses in crude oil cast a bearish shadow over the market.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 32.08 points, or 0.24%, to 13,390.19.

Canada’s agricultural sector performed as follows:
AGT Food and Ingredients—–dn $ 0.75 at $ 38.05
Agrium Incorporated———-up $ 0.06 at $118.63
Buhler Industries————dn $ 0.05 at $ 4.80
Maple Leaf Foods————-up $ 0.14 at $ 27.13
Potash Corp. of Sask———up $ 0.07 at $ 22.70

(All figures are in Canadian dollars.)