Canadian forex midday: C$ softens along with oil

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, May 15 – The Canadian dollar was softer against the US dollar at midday Friday, undermined by weakness in commodities, such as crude oil and gold, analysts said.

At 11:40 CDT Friday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.8318 or US$1=C$1.2022, which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.8334 or US$1=C$1.1999.

Firmness in the US dollar index and worries that recent strength in the Canadian dollar could lead to further interest rate cuts by the Bank of Canada were also bearish.

However, positive Canadian manufacturing data limited the downside. Statistics Canada said manufacturing sales rose 2.9 per cent to C$51.0 billion in March, the largest monthly gain in almost four years. Strong demand for automobiles and aerospace parts were behind the sharp advance.

The Toronto Stock Exchange was up 19.66 points, or 0.13%, at 11:40 CDT Friday, to sit at 15,047.78.