By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, September 13 – The Canadian dollar opened lower against
its US counterpart on Friday, undermined by concerns that the US
Federal Reserve could slow it’s monetary stimulus next week during
their policy meeting, industry watchers said.
Adding to the Canadian dollar’s weakness was a Statistics Canada
report that showed the ratio of household debt to income increased from
162.1 percent in the first quarter (of 2013) to 163.4 percent in the
second quarter.
Losses seen in commodities, including gold, copper and crude oil,
were also bearish.
However, weaker-than-expected US retail sales data limited gains,
analysts said. According to reports, retail sales were up 0.2% in
August, which was lower than the 0.5% gain economists had forecast.
At 8:40 CDT Friday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.9671 or
US$=C$1.0340 which compares with Thursday’s North American close of
US$0.9685, or US$=C$1.0325.
The TSX was up 28.99 points Friday morning at 8:40 CDT, to sit at
12,730.04.
