By Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, Oct. 23 The Canadian dollar was holding up slightly relative to the U.S. dollar Thursday morning, finding support from positive economic news out of Europe and China, analysts said.
Markit’s composite purchasing managers’ index for the euro zone rose to 52.2 points in October, from 52.0 in September. Anything above 50 indicates expansion.
HSBC’s preliminary Chinese factory purchasing managers’ index rose to 50.4 in October, from 50.2 in September.
At 9:05 CDT Thursday the Canadian dollar was at U.S.$0.8900 or U.S.$=C$1.1236, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of U.S.$0.8894 or U.S.$=C$1.1243.
Strength in crude oil values was also supporting the Canadian currency, though sharp declines in gold were bearish, traders noted.
The TSX was up 73.15 points, or 0.51%, at 9:05 CDT Thursday morning to sit at 14,385.22.
