Canadian Forex Midday: C$ strengthens slightly

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, December 19 – The Canadian dollar was slightly stronger
against its US counterpart at midday Thursday, despite Wednesday’s
decision by the US Federal Reserve to begin tapering of asset purchases
starting in January, industry watchers said.
The Fed said it will be cutting US$10 billion off of their US$85
billion of monthly bond purchases.
Losses seen in commodities, including gold and copper, limited the
loonie’s upside.
At 11:36 CST Thursday, the Canadian dollar was trading at
US$0.9361 or US$1.0682, which compares with Wednesday’s North American
close of US$0.9355, or US$=$1.0689.
Statistics Canada released employment insurance (EI) data earlier
in the morning, but it seemed to have little effect on the value of the
Canadian dollar. According to StatsCan, people receiving regular EI
benefits were slightly higher in October. The report said 510,500
people were receiving EI regularly in October, compared to 503,800 in
September.
At 11:36 CST Thursday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 45.08
points to sit at 13,379.81.