By Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, September 22 – The Canadian dollar advanced against its US counterpart Thursday morning, propped up by gains in crude oil and an announcement from the US Federal Reserve.
Crude oil futures gained in early activity, supported by data from the Energy Information Administration, which showed US stocks declined last week.
The US Federal Reserve announced it will be holding interest rates steady, for now, following its September monetary policy meeting, which added pressure to the greenback.
At 9:10 CDT Thursday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7674 or US$=C$1.3031, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$0.7629 or US$1=C$1.3107.
In Canadian domestic data, regular employment insurance beneficiaries in Canada totaled 575,200 in July, up 4.4 per cent from the previous month. This unusual month-to-month increase is attributed to EI legislative changes that came into effect in July, Statistics Canada said in a report on Thursday.
The TSX was up 113.0 points at 9:10 CDT Thursday morning to sit at 14,823.78.
