By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, January 24 – The Canadian dollar fell below parity with the US dollar at midday Thursday, as traders continue to avoid the currency following Wednesday’s Bank of Canada announcement, analysts said.
The Bank of Canada took a more dovish tone, noting they would not be raising interest rates for some time. The bank also downgraded their Canadian economic growth outlook for 2012 and 2013.
At 11:45 CST Thursday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9974, or US$1=C$1.0026, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$1.0010, or US$=C$0.9990.
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Disappointing employment data from Spain also had traders avoiding riskier assets, including the Canadian dollar. The Spanish unemployment rate hit a record high of 26%.
However, positive employment data from the US helped to slow the decline. US jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 330,000 during the reporting period.
Strong Chinese manufacturing data also underpinned the Canadian dollar. According to a preliminary report, HSBC’s monthly purchasing managers index rose to 51.9 in January, from 51.5 in December.
There was no significant Canadian economic data to report on Thursday.
The Toronto Stock Exchange was up 58.44 points, or 0.46%, at 11:45 CST Thursday, to sit at 12,852.49.
