By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, November 21 – The Canadian dollar opened weaker against
its US counterpart on Thursday, undermined by Wednesday’s release of
minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s October policy meeting, industry
watchers said.
According to reports, the Fed could begin slowing its monetary
stimulus “in the coming months” if the US job market improves.
Further downward pressure came from weak Chinese manufacturing
data, participants said. HSBC’s manufacturing purchasing managers’
index fell from 50.9 in October to 50.4 in November. Economists were
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Losses seen in commodities, including gold and copper, added to
the bearish tone.
However, favourable Canadian employment data did limit losses,
brokers said. According to Statistics Canada, the number of people
receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) was down 1.4% to 503,000.
Compared to September 2012, the number of people on EI was down 8.8%.
At 8:43 CST Thursday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.9536 or
US$=C$1.0486 which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of
US$0.9572, or US$=C$1.0447.
The TSX was up 24.39 points Thursday morning at 8:43 CST, to sit
at 13,454.40.
