Canadian forex midday: C$ seeing upward correction

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, July 23 – The Canadian dollar was slightly firmer against the US dollar on Thursday, seeing an upward correction after falling to more than ten-year lows on Wednesday, analysts said.

At 11:40 CDT Thursday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.7676 or US$1=C$1.3028, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$0.7670 or US$1=C$1.3037.

The gains were also linked to positive Canadian retail sales data. Statistics Canada said retail sales rose 1.0 per cent to C$43.0 billion in May, which beat expectations of a 0.5 per cent jump.

Spillover support also came from the advances seen in crude oil, one of Canada’s biggest export products.

However, ongoing worries about Canada falling into a recession limited the upside, as it could lead to another interest rate cut down the road.

Expectations that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates later this year in the US were also overhanging the Canadian dollar.

The Toronto Stock Exchange was down 97.56 points, or 0.68%, at 11:40 CDT Thursday, to sit at 14,209.56.