By MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, May 18 (MarketsFarm) – The Canadian dollar was slightly weaker Thursday morning, with losses in crude oil accounting for some of the selling pressure in the energy-linked currency.
At 8:48 a.m. CDT Thursday morning the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7409 or US$1=C$1.3497, which compares with Wednesday’s close of US$0.7428 or US$1=C$1.3463.
Canada’s new housing price index was down by 0.1 per cent in April compared to the previous month, with prices steady or lower in 20 of the 27 census metropolitan areas surveyed, according to a report from Statistics Canada.
While expectations that the United States would soon reach an agreement to raise its debt ceiling provided some support for crude oil, rising stockpiles in the country weighed on values and West Texas Intermediate was down by 1.2 per cent at US$71.96 per barrel.
The TSX was weaker, losing 54.96 points at 8:48 CDT, trading at 20,240.13 points.
