Canadian Forex Midday: C$ Slightly Lower

By Commodity News Service Canada.

Winnipeg, September 9 – The Canadian dollar was slightly lower against its US counterpart at midday Wednesday, weighed down by losses in crude oil and gold.

The Canadian dollar was at US$0.7558 or US$1 = C$1.3231 at 11:40 CDT Wednesday.

The Bank of Canada announced this morning it was keeping the main interest rate at 0.5%. The central bank said its two previous rate cuts were still stimulating the economy and an additional one was premature. At the same time, the bank acknowledged questions over China’s economy continue to overhang the financial sector.

New numbers show that Canadian housing starts jumped 12.2% in August, surpassing expectations.

Construction has begun to slow down in Alberta and Saskatchewan due to weaker economic conditions brought on by a slowdown in oil.

On the commodity markets the October crude contract in New York declined US$0.94 to US$45.00 a barrel. The December gold contract fell US$17.00 to US$1,104.00 an ounce.

At 11:40 CDT Wednesday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 40.19 points to 13,673.86.