By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, October 17 – The Canadian dollar was slightly higher against its US counterpart at midday Friday, as low inflation and less volatility on global markets helped buoy the loonie.
New data showed that Canada’s cost of living was up 0.2 percent in September on a seasonally adjusted basis. The annual inflation rate was 2.0 percent in September, in line with expectations.
Quantitative easing by the US, which is set to close by the end of this month, is being held up as a possible measure to continue with. This helped push the loonie higher.
The December copper contract was unchanged at US$2.98 a pound. The November crude oil contract fell $0.82 to hit US$83.52 a barrel. December gold lost US$2.50 to $1,238.70 an ounce.
At 11:40 CDT Friday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.8884 or US$1.1256, which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.8890, or US$=$1.1248.
At 11:40 CDT Friday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 207.31 points to sit at 14,260.28.
