By Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, March 17 – The Canadian dollar was stronger against its US counterpart in early activity on Friday.
The loonie advanced against the US dollar, underpinned by gains in the crude oil market.
Crude strengthened with ideas that OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) are considering extending a production cap.
At 8:50 CDT Friday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7509 or US$=C$1.3317, which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.7492 or US$1=C$1.3347.
In Canadian domestic data, manufacturing sales rose for the third consecutive month, up 0.6 per cent to C$53.8 billion in January, Statistics Canada said in a report on Friday.
The TSX was up 30.63 points at 8:50 CDT Friday morning to sit at 15,593.04.
