By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, May 7 – The Canadian dollar was lower against its US counterpart at midday Thursday, as a retreat in oil prices sent the loonie falling in range-bound action.
The loonie was at US$0.8305 or US$1 = C$1.2040 at 11:30 CDT Thursday morning. US dollar strength was also bearish for the loonie which is tied very closely to crude oil.
US jobless claims rose to 265,000 for the week ended May 2. Analyst say that figure points to a strong US labour market in April which could further boost the American greenback at the loonie’s expense.
On the bright side, Canadian building permits jumped 11.6% in March. That was much higher than analysts’ expectations of 2%.
On the commodity markets the June crude contract in New York sank US$1.40 to US$60.87 a barrel. The June gold contract fell US$7.60 to US$1,182.70 an ounce.
At 11:30 CDT Thursday morning, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 45.09 points to 15,068.98.
