By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, January 22 – The Canadian dollar was mostly steady compared to its US counterpart at midday Tuesday, ahead of Wednesday’s Bank of Canada policy rate announcement.
Traders expect the Bank of Canada to keep their policy rate unchanged, and downgrade their expectations for near-term growth in Canada, analysts said.
At 11:46 CST Tuesday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$1.0067, or US$1=C$0.9933, which compares with Monday’s North American close of US$1.0068, or US$=C$0.9932.
Strong crude oil, gold and copper prices helped to underpin the value of the Canadian dollar.
Better than expected Canadian retail sales data also provided some support for the Canadian unit. According to Statistics Canada, retail sales were up 0.2% to C$39.4 billion in November, marking a fifth consecutive monthly sales gain.
The Toronto Stock Exchange was down 4.70 points, or 0.04%, at 11:46 CST Tuesday, to sit at 12,789.55.
