By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, March 25 – The Canadian dollar eased against the US dollar at midday Wednesday, retreating from earlier gains.
At 11:40 CDT Wednesday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.7981 or US$1=C$1.2530, which compares with Tuesday’s North American close of US$0.7999 or US$1=C$1.2501.
Some of the weakness was linked to traders liquidating positions amid uncertainty ahead of a Bank of Canada speech Wednesday afternoon. With a lack of economic data releases this week, the market will likely take direction from whatever the broad topic of the speech is, analysts said.
Some profit taking on recent gains was also bearish, though a rebound in crude oil values helped to limit the Canadian dollar’s downside.
The Toronto Stock Exchange was down 76.63 points, or 0.51%, at 11:40 CDT Wednesday, to sit at 15,004.63.
