By Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, June 12 – The Canadian dollar was weaker than its US counterpart Friday morning. Statistics Canada released information on household debt, and the Bank of Canada said the housing market is overvalued.
At 8:30 a.m. CDT the Canadian dollar was at US$0.81 or C$1.2345 which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.8147, or C$1.2275.
A crash in housing prices, some of which are overvalued by as much as 30 per cent, could pose a risk to the country’s financial system, Bank of Canada said Thursday.
The bank says they expect imbalances in the household and housing sectors to improve with the economy, and as interest rates normalize.
Credit-market debt (mortgages, loans and consumer credit) hit 163.3 per cent of household income, down slightly from last year’s 163.6 at the end of last year, Stats Can said Friday.
The TSX was weaker in early activity, down 58.16 points at 8:30 a.m. CDT to sit at 14,830.88.
