Canadian forex midday: C$ holding steady

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, July 20 – The Canadian dollar was holding relatively steady against the US dollar at midday Monday, consolidating after moving below the key 77 cents US mark earlier in the session.

At 11:38 CDT Monday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.7702 or US$1=C$1.2984, which compares with Friday’s North American close of US$0.7700 or US$1=C$1.2987.

Sentiment that recent losses were overdone helped to underpin the Canadian currency, as did Friday’s positive domestic inflation data.

On the other side, weakness in crude oil values was bearish, as were disappointing Canadian wholesale trade figures, brokers noted.

Statistics Canada said wholesale sales dropped 1.0 per cent to C$54.5 billion in May, while traders anticipated sales to be flat.

The Toronto Stock Exchange was down 147.31 points, or 1.01%, at 11:38 CDT Monday, to sit at 14,495.53.