By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, May 15 – The Canadian dollar was trading at a weaker level compared to its US counterpart at midday Wednesday, as weak Canadian manufacturing data was bearish, analysts said.
According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales fell by 0.3% to C$49.5 billion in March, marking the third decline in four months.
At 11:58 CDT Wednesday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9823, or US$1=C$1.0180, which compares with Tuesday’s North American close of US$0.9833, or US$=C$1.0170.
Spill over pressure from the weakness in crude oil and other commodities, including sharp declines in gold, further weighed on the value of the Canadian dollar.
However, worse than expected industrial production data from the US provided some support. US industrial production fell by 0.5% in April, according to the Federal Reserve. The trade was expecting production to drop by 0.2%.
The Toronto Stock Exchange was down 66.90 points, or 0.53%, at 11:58 CDT Wednesday, to sit at 12,510.15.
