Canadian Forex Midday: C$ Lower

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, Feb. 15 – The Canadian dollar was trading at lower level compared to its US counterpart at midday Friday, undermined by weak Canadian manufacturing data.

According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales declined 3.1% to C$48 billion in December 2012, the largest contraction since May 2009. Traders expected a 0.8% decline.

At 11:57 CST Friday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9928, or US$1=C$1.0073, which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.9988, or US$=C$1.0012.

Traders were also wary of taking on riskier assets, including the loonie, ahead of the weekend’s G20 meeting, analysts said.

Lower commodity prices, including crude oil, gold and copper, also contributed to the losses seen in the Canadian dollar.

The Toronto Stock Exchange was down 38.85 points, or 0.31%, at 11:57 CST Friday, to sit at 12,682.94.