Canadian Financial Close: Loonie dips on rumours of rate hike

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, August 26 – The Canadian dollar finished lower
against its US counterpart, in the wake of a speech on Friday
from US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen. She hinted the case
was building for a hike in interest rates but didn’t specify
when such a move might occur.
The loonie did show remarkable strength though as it failed
to drop as far as many other major currencies.
The Canadian dollar closed at US$0.7692 or US$1=C$1.3000,
which compares with Thursday’s close of US$0.7736, or
US$1=C$1.2926.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index finished higher as Yellen’s
comments had a positive effect on North American equities.
Toronto’s industry and energy groups both rose while the
materials sector weakened slightly.
Losses in gold and oil limited the gains.
The index rose 9.16 points, or 0.06%, to close at
14,639.88.

Canada’s agricultural sector performed as follows:

AGT Food and Ingredients—–dn $ 0.33 at $ 36.58
Agrium Incorporated———-dn $ 2.06 at $115.78
Buhler Industries————– $ 0.00 at $ 4.76
Maple Leaf Foods————-up $ 0.14 at $ 29.05
Potash Corp. of Sask———dn $ 0.45 at $ 20.86

(All figures are in Canadian dollars.)