By MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, March 16 (MarketsFarm) – The Canadian dollar was slightly higher on Thursday morning as pressure from the banking crisis in the United States and Europe cooled off.
As of 8:35 am CDT, the loonie was at US$0.7268 or C$1.3753, compared to Wednesday’s close of US$0.7258 or US$1=C$1.3778. On the United States Dollar Index, the greenback nudged up 0.024 of a point at 104.400.
Benchmark crude oil prices were lower on Thursday morning as global production increases.
Brent crude oil stepped back US$1.06 at US$72.63 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) lost US$1.13 at US$66.48. Western Canadian Select (WCS) gave up 80 cents at US$51.16.
Statistics Canada reported that wholesale sales in January rose 2.4 per cent at C$84.2 billion. The growth came from increases in the sales of the machinery, equipment and supplies subsector as well as the food, beverage and tobacco subsector.
Shortly after Thursday’s open the TSX/S&P Composite Index lost 161.36 points at 19,217.48.
Gold gained US$4.00 at US$1,935.30 per ounce.
