By MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, March 15 (MarketsFarm) – The Canadian dollar fell hard on Wednesday morning in the face of an upward surge in the United States dollar and weakness in crude oil prices.
As of 8:34 am CDT, the loonie was at US$0.7263 or C$1.3765, compared to Tuesday’s close of US$0.7312 or US$1=C$1.3677. On the U.S. Dollar Index, the greenback jumped 1.155 points at 104.370.
Benchmark crude oil prices fell further back on Wednesday morning, as concerns over the failure of two U.S. banks continued to dominate the market, despite indications of China’s resurgent economy.
Brent crude oil dropped US$2.77 at US$74.68 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell US$2.79 at US$68.54. Western Canadian Select (WCS) lost US$2.31 at US$52.21.
Shortly after Wednesday’s open the TSX/S&P Composite Index gave up 312.15 points at 19,382.01.
Gold advanced US$22.10 at US$1,933.00 per ounce.
