By MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, July 18 (MarketsFarm) – The Canadian dollar was stronger Monday morning, as the energy-linked currency found support from advances in crude oil.
At 8:40 a.m. CDT Monday morning the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7720 or US$1=C$1.2953, which compares with Friday’s close of US$0.7670 or US$1=C$1.3038.
Canadian housing starts came in at 273,800 units in June, which was down from a revised reading of 282,200 units the previous month, according to a report from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. Pre-report expectations had been for a larger decline on the month.
Oil was underpinned by mounting concerns over natural gas supplies out of Russia. However, uncertainty over a global recession and the possibility of reduced demand out of China did temper the upside. West Texas Intermediate was up by 4.1 per cent at US$101.55 per barrel.
The TSX was stronger, up 246.94 points at 8:40 CDT, trading at 18,641.39 points.
