Canadian Dollar And Business Outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, May 15 The Canadian dollar eased against the US dollar at 8:57 CDT Wednesday, undermined by weak Canadian manufacturing sales data, analysts said.

At 8:57 CDT Wednesday the Canadian dollar was at US$0.9821 or US$=C$1.0182, which compares with Tuesday’s North American close of US$0.9833 or US$=C$1.0170.

According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales fell by 0.3% to C$49.5 billion in March, marking the third decline in four months.

Some of the selling seen in the Canadian dollar was also linked to weak European economic data. In Germany, gross domestic product rose 0.1% in the first quarter of 2013, which was below expectations of a 0.3% increase.

The loonie was also pressured by spill over from the losses seen in commodities, including crude oil, gold and copper, traders noted.

The TSX was down 43.99 points, or 0.35%, at 8:57 CDT Wednesday morning to sit at 12,533.06.