By Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, January 7 The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, supported slightly by an announcement from the Bank of Canada.
At 8:45 a.m. CST the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7109 or C$1.4067 which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$0.7102, or C$1.4080. The loonie had fallen about a half cent on Wednesday
At 8:45 a.m., New York Mercantile crude oil futures had shed US$1.09 to sit at US$32.88 a barrel, as depreciation in China’s currency pressured global markets. Trading on China’s Shanghai exchange was halted for the second time this week after another brutal selloff.
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz assured market watchers that despite recent losses in the loonie due to weak oil markets, Canada has policy flexibility, and gave no indication that an interest rate cut loomed.
There was no significant economic data released by Statistics Canada on Thursday.
The TSX was weaker in early activity, down 185.5 points at 8:45 a.m. CST to sit at 12,541.28.
