By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, June 26 – The Canadian dollar was higher against its US counterpart at midday Thursday, after the US Commerce Department reported a 0.2% rise in consumer spending. This happened after there was no gain in April.
The loonie also gained support from stronger than expected inflationary data, leading some to believe the Bank of Canada will hike interest rates sooner than expected.
On the commodity markets, prices were mostly lower.
The August gold contract fell $6.80 cents to US$1,315.80 an ounce, which was bearish. The July copper contract was down a cent to US$3.16 a pound. The August crude oil contract fell $1.21 cents to US$105.29 a barrel.
At 11:55 CDT Thursday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9356 or US$1.0688, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$0.9327, or US$=$1.0722.
At 11:50 CDT Thursday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 31.33 points to sit at 15,005.98.
