By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, May 22 – The Canadian dollar was marginally higher against its US counterpart at midday Thursday, as strong metal prices helped to offset weak retail sales data.
A report by Statistics Canada showed domestic retail sales in March fell 0.1 percent to C$41.1 billion. This was largely due to a slowdown in the auto sector and went against earlier projections that called for a 0.3 percent rise in domestic retail sales, analysts said.
The July copper contract rose two cents to US$3.14 a pound while June bullion gained $9.60 to US$1,297.70 an ounce, which was bullish.
At 11:40 CDT Thursday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9183 or US$1.0889, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$0.9162, or US$=$1.0915.
At 11:40 CDT Thursday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 86.51 points to sit at 14,736.37.
