By Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, March 3 The Canadian dollar was slightly weaker Monday morning against the US dollar. Traders were avoiding risk due to concerns about the ongoing political problems between Russia and Ukraine, analysts said.
However, the loonie’s losses were limited by positive Canadian industrial product data. According to Statistics Canada, the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI) rose 1.4 per cent in January due to higher petroleum and energy product prices. Traders expected the IPPI to rise 0.5 per cent.
Spillover support also came from the advances seen in gold and crude oil values.
At 8:43 CST Monday the Canadian dollar was at US$0.9022 or US$=C$1.1108, which compares with Friday’s North American close of US$0.9030 or US$=C$1.1075.
Traders were looking ahead to Wednesday when the Bank of Canada will make its latest interest rate announcement. Employment data for Canada and the US will also be released on Friday.
The TSX was down 4.76 points, or 0.03%, at 8:43 CST Monday morning to sit at 14,209.59.
