Canadian forex midday: C$ sharply stronger

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, April 27 – The Canadian dollar was up sharply against the US dollar at midday Monday, lifted by technical buying, analysts said.

At 11:46 CDT Monday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.8273 or US$1=C$1.2088, which compares with Friday’s North American close of US$0.8217 or US$1=C$1.2170.

A firmer tone in crude oil prices was also contributing to the upward movement, as was a rally in the gold market, brokers added.

Expectations that Canada’s economy will rebound later in the year were also supportive. Though, Bank of Canada officials anticipate economic data will be weak for the first quarter of 2015.

There was no significant Canadian economic data released Monday. Traders were looking ahead to February gross domestic product data, to be released by Statistics Canada on Tuesday.

The Toronto Stock Exchange was down 47.55 points, or 0.31%, at 11:46 CDT Monday, to sit at 15,360.78.