By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, January 29 – The Canadian dollar was lower against its American counterpart Thursday morning, as speculation rose the US Federal Reserve will hike interest rates sometime this year.
At 8:40 CST Thursday morning, the loonie was down 0.0011 of a cent to US$0.7968 or US$1 = C$1.2550. The US central bank could hike rates as soon as June, said one analyst. The main rate has been near zero since the 2008 financial collapse.
Oil prices are also a concern after plunging nearly two dollars on Wednesday.
Economic data for both Canada and the US is due to be released on Friday.
On the commodity markets the March crude contract in New York dipped 2 cents to US$44.43 a barrel. March copper dipped four cents to US$2.44 a pound while the February gold contract dropped $19.10 to US$1,266.80 an ounce.
At 8:40 CST Thursday morning, the TSX was down 231.00 points to 14,602.88.
