By Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, May 18 The Canadian dollar lost ground against its US counterpart on Wednesday, as one US Fed official has said he will push for an interest rate increase, and crude oil prices moved lower.
A US Federal Reserve official has said he will encourage an interest rate hike later this summer, which pressured the loonie.
A string of favourable data from the US further supported analyst expectations for an interest rate increase later this year.
At 8:45 a.m. CDT, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7711 or C$1.2968 which compares with Tuesday’s North American close of US$0.7750, or C$1.2903.
New York Mercantile crude oil futures had lost US$0.12 to sit
at US$48.87 a barrel, as of 8:45 CDT, which pressured the commodity-linked Canadian dollar.
In Canadian domestic data, foreign investment in Canadian securities strengthened for a third straight month to reach C$17.2 billion in March, Statistics Canada said in a report on Wednesday.
The TSX was weaker in early activity, down 27.04 points at 8:45
a.m. CDT to sit at 13,890.06.
