By Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, June 8 – The Canadian dollar strengthened against its US counterpart Monday morning after reports that the pace of the Canadian housing sector increased in May.
At 8:30 a.m. CDT the Canadian dollar was at US$0.8057 or C$1.2411 which compares with Friday’s North American close of US$0.8039, or C$1.2439.
Housing starts jumped from 183,329 in April to 201,705 in May, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
Most of the increases were in Ontario, the Atlantic region and Quebec, according to the CMHC.
Statistics Canada data released Monday says that contractors took out C$7.8-billion worth of building permits in April.
That amount is 11.6 per cent higher than March’s numbers, which makes it the second consecutive month to increase, StatsCan said in a building permit report.
The TSX was weaker in early activity, down 62.23 points at 8:30 a.m. CDT to sit at 14,957.16.
