By Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, January 24 The Canadian dollar fell below parity with its US counterpart at 8:48 CST Thursday, as Wednesday’s news that the Bank of Canada weakened its economic growth outlook for 2012 and 2013 continued weigh on its value, analysts said.
The Bank of Canada also took a more dovish stance than traders were expecting as they announced that interest rate hikes probably won’t happen any time soon.
At 8:48 CST Thursday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.9984 or US$=C$1.0016, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$1.0010 or US$=C$0.9990.
Weak commodity prices, including a sharp decline in gold values, also helped the Canadian dollar move below parity with its US counterpart.
However, some positive economic news from China helped to slow the Canadian currency’s decline. HSBC’s preliminary monthly purchasing managers index rose to 51.9 in January, from 51.5 in December.
There was no significant Canadian economic data to report on Thursday morning.
The TSX was down 30.58 points, or 0.24%, at 8:48 CST Thursday morning to sit at 12,794.05.
