By MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, March 24 (MarketsFarm) – The Canadian dollar was weaker Friday morning, as losses in crude oil and general global economic uncertainty weighed on the currency.
At 8:37 a.m. CDT Friday morning the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7259 or US$1=C$1.3776, which compares with Thursday’s close of US$0.7315 or US$1=C$1.3671.
Mounting concerns in the European banking sector spilled into the North American markets, with resulting strength in the safe-haven United States dollar.
Crude oil was also caught up in general pre-weekend selling pressure, with talk that the U.S. would be unlikely to refill its strategic reserve this year also bearish.
West Texas Intermediate was down by 2.4 per cent at US$68.30 per barrel.
In domestic data, Canadian retail sales were up by 1.4 per cent in January, hitting C$66.4 billion, according to a report from Statistics Canada. Early wholesale trade data for February showed a 1.6 per cent drop during the month.
The TSX declined by 91.91 points at 8:37 CDT, trading at 19,367.77 points.
