Canadian Forex Midday: C$ Nearly Unchanged

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, May 6 – The Canadian dollar was nearly unchanged compared to the US dollar at midday Monday. Trade activity was light as European and Asian markets were closed to observe holidays.

At 11:57 CDT Monday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9925, or US$1=C$1.0075, which compares with Friday’s North American close of US$0.9923, or US$=C$1.0078.

Some support came from strong Canadian building permits data, analysts said. According to Statistics Canada, building permits in Canada were worth C$6.5 billion in March, an increase of 8.6% from February.

Strong commodity prices, including crude oil and gold, also spilled over to help underpin the value of the Canadian dollar.

Traders were looking ahead to Friday, when Statistics Canada will release its latest employment data. Market participants generally expect the Canadian economy to have added 11,000 new jobs in April.

The Toronto Stock Exchange was up 31.15 points, or 0.25%, at 11:57 CDT Monday, to sit at 12,469.18.