By Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, July 12 – The Canadian dollar ended much higher compared to its US counterpart on Wednesday, after the Bank of Canada hiked interest rates by 25 basis points to 0.75%.
It was the first hike in nearly seven years and fueled a sharp rise for the commodity-rich currency. It also was noteworthy because Canada has been hit with recent concerns over inflation.
The Canadian dollar ended Wednesday at US$0.7816 cents or C$1.2920, compared to Tuesday’s close of US$0.7740 or C$1.2920.
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index dipped 5.15 points, or 0.03%, to 15,143.99.
The materials sector declined 1.1% on profit-taking. Barrick Gold lost 1.7% while Kinross fell 3.5%.
On the other side, higher crude oil prices helped the energy sector reap a 0.4% gain.
The yield for Canada’s two-year bonds was recently at 1.196% from 1.124% on Tuesday, according to electronic trading platform CanDeal.
Canada’s agricultural sector performed as follows:
AGT Food and Ingredients—–up $ 0.46 at $ 24.11
Agrium Incorporated———-dn $ 2.46 at $121.49
Buhler Industries————– $ 0.00 at $ 4.23
Maple Leaf Foods————-dn $ 0.06 at $ 32.53
Potash Corp. of Sask———dn $ 0.47 at $ 21.78
(All figures are in Canadian dollars.)
