By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, January 20 – The Canadian dollar was sharply lower against its American counterpart Tuesday morning, just a day before the Bank of Canada is scheduled to make an announcement on interest rates.
At 8:45 CST Tuesday morning, the loonie was down 0.0008 of a cent to US$0.8292 or US$1 = C$1.2059. Canada’s central bank is widely expected to leave the interest rate untouched, as declining oil revenues have threatened growth in the Canadian economy. The key rate is one percent and has been there since September of 2010.
Metal prices are also under pressure. Copper has dipped 55 percent since June.
The International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for global growth over the next two years. It pegged 2015 growth at 3.5 percent and 3.7 percent in 2016.
On the commodity markets the March crude contract in New York fell $1.49 to US$47.64 a barrel. March copper was down three cents at US$2.58 a pound while the February gold contract surged 10.50 to US$1,287.40 an ounce.
At 8:45 CST Tuesday morning, the TSX was up 3.09 points to 14,312.50.
