Canadian Forex Midday: C$ Sharply Higher

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, April 30 – The Canadian dollar moved sharply higher compared to its US counterpart at midday Tuesday, underpinned by strong Canadian economic data, traders said.

Statistics Canada reported that gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.3% in February, matching the increase seen in January and beating expectations of a 0.2% jump. Analysts noted the rise puts Canada on track to post its best quarterly growth since 2011.

At 12:06 CDT Tuesday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9927, or US$1=C$1.0074, which compares with Monday’s North American close of US$0.9885, or US$=C$1.0116.

Support for the Canadian dollar also came from optimism that the US Federal Reserve will announce that they will continue to implement stimulus measure, following the conclusion of their 2-day meeting on Wednesday.

Expectations that the European Central Bank will decide cut interest rates at their meeting this week, in order to stimulate the economy, also underpinned the value of the Canadian currency.

The Toronto Stock Exchange was up 14.64 points, or 0.12%, at 12:06 CDT Tuesday, to sit at 12,327.31.