By Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, Feb. 26 The Canadian dollar eased against the US dollar Thursday morning, reacting to news that Canadian inflation fell last month, analysts said.
The consumer price index dropped by 0.2 per cent in January, mainly due to the weakness seen in crude oil and the resulting lower gas prices, Statistics Canada said.
At 8:55 CST Thursday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.8010 or US$=C$1.2484, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$0.8050 or US$1=C$1.2423.
Spillover pressure from the weakness in crude oil values and profit taking on recent advances were also bearish for the Canadian currency.
However, disappointing US inflation data limited the downside, as it pointed to a longer wait for a rise in US interest rates. The US consumer price index dropped 0.7 per cent last month, also due to falling gas values.
The TSX was up 77.76 points, or 0.51%, at 8:55 CST Thursday morning to sit at 15,306.33.
