By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, December 5 – The Canadian dollar was stronger against
its US counterpart at midday Thursday, underpinned by better-than-
expected Canadian housing market data, industry watchers said.
According to Statistics Canada, the total value of building
permits for October were up 7.4%, beating economists’ expectations of
just a 1.0% increase.
However, good US economic data limited the loonie’s upside,
brokers said. The US Department of Commerce said the US third-quarter
gross domestic product grew at a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.6%,
beating trade expectations of a 3.2% increase.
Losses seen in commodities, including gold and copper, also
weighed on the Canadian dollar.
At 11:40 CST Thursday, the Canadian dollar was trading at
US$0.9395 or US$1.0643, which compares with Wednesday’s North American
close of US$0.9365, or US$=$1.0678.
At 11:40 CST Monday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 62.92
points to sit at 13,242.00.
