Canadian Forex Midday: C$ Firmer

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, December 17 – The Canadian dollar was trading at a firmer level compared to its US counterpart at midday Monday, supported by strong crude oil and gold prices, analysts said.

At 11:55 CST Monday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$1.0157 US$1=C$0.9845, which compares with Friday’s North American close of US$1.0137, or US$=C$0.9865.

News that US lawmakers are meeting to discuss how to avoid the impending US ‘fiscal cliff’, had traders more willing to take on risk, which also helped the Canadian dollar advances, traders said.

Investors were looking ahead to Friday, when Statistics Canada will release its last two economic reports of the year. Inflation and gross domestic product data reports are set to be released on Friday.

The Toronto Stock Exchange was down 6.31 points, or 0.05%, at 11:55 CST Monday, to sit at 12,290.41.