By MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, Feb. 18 (MarketsFarm) – The Canadian dollar was slightly weaker Friday morning, as losses in crude oil weighed on the energy-linked currency.
At 8:35 a.m. CST Friday morning the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7862 or US$1=C$1.2719, which compares with Thursday’s close of US$0.7877 or US$1=C$1.2695.
Canadian retail sales were down by 1.8 per cent in December, to C$57.0 billion, according to a report from Statistics Canada. The decline came in below average market forecasts for a 2.1 per cent drop, with retail trade growth on an annual basis of 8.6 per cent coming in well above expectations.
In other data, new home prices in Canada were up by 0.9 per cent in January compared to the previous month. They were up by 11.8 per cent on the year.
West Texas Intermediate was down by 2.3 per cent at US$87.97 per barrel.
The TSX was lower, down 45.71 points at 8:35 CST, trading at 21,126.90 points.
