By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, January 18 – The Canadian dollar softened against its US counterpart at midday Friday, as a report from China suggesting that the demand for commodities likely won’t increase any time soon weighed on its value, analysts said.
At 11:42 CST Friday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$1.0163, or US$1=C$0.9937, which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$1.0145, or US$=C$0.9857.
Some technical-based selling and weak crude oil and gold prices also helped to undermine the value of the Canadian currency.
Strong Canadian factory sales data failed to impact the Canadian currency. Statistics Canada reported manufacturing sales in Canada were up 1.7% in November to C$49.9 billion, the highest level since 2012.
The number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits declined by 4,500 to 528,000 in November, StatsCan said.
The Toronto Stock Exchange was up 54.83 points, or 0.43%, at 11:42 CST Friday, to sit at 12,729.56.
