Canadian Forex Midday: C$ Firms

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, January 10 – The Canadian dollar was trading at a firmer level versus its US counterpart at midday Thursday, as the European Central Bank (ECB) kept its policy rate unchanged and made encouraging remarks, analysts said.

ECB President Mario Draghi said at a news conference that there are already signs that the euro zone economy is stabilizing, and it should recover by the end of 2013.

At 11:42 CST Thursday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$1.0148, or US$1=C$0.9854, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$1.0125, or US$=C$0.9877.

Better than anticipated Chinese exports also helped to underpin the value of the Canadian dollar. China’s overseas sales were up 14.1% in December compared to December 2011, beating pre-report expectations of a 5% increase.

Strong commodity prices were also supportive for the Canadian unit.

Statistics Canada reported municipalities issued C$6.2 billion in building permits in November, down 17.9% from October and the lowest level since January 2012.

Market participants were looking ahead to a speech by Tiff Macklem, senior Bank of Canada official, later Thursday. They were also anticipating Friday’s Canadian trade data.

The Toronto Stock Exchange was up 52.60 points, or 0.42%, at 11:42 CST Thursday, to sit at 12,574.84.