By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, December 28 – The Canadian dollar was trading at a fractionally lower level versus its US counterpart at midday Friday, as traders were awaiting news on US fiscal cliff budget talks, analysts said.
President Barack Obama and congressional leaders are meeting Friday afternoon to discuss measures to stop the fiscal cliff from happening.
At 11:43 CST Friday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$1.0047, or US$1=C$0.9953, which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$1.0051, or US$=C$0.9949.
Weak commodity prices, including crude oil, gold and copper, put some downward pressure on the Canadian currency.
Some of the softness in the Canadian dollar was also linked to traders liquidating positions ahead of the New Year, participants noted.
There was no significant Canadian economic data released on Friday, as Statistics Canada doesn’t have any economic indicators scheduled to be released until 2013.
The Toronto Stock Exchange was down 51.67 points, or 0.42%, at 11:43 CST Friday, to sit at 12,322.10.
