By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, March 2 – The Canadian dollar was lower against its American counterpart Monday morning, as new data from China shows the country’s manufacturing sector contracted for a second month in a row.
At 8:50 CST Monday morning, the loonie was down 0.0015 of a cent to US$0.7981 or US$1 = C$1.2529. China’s purchasing managers’ index came in at 49.1 in February compared to 49.8 the month before.
China’s central bank also announced over the weekend that it will lower its key interest rate by a quarter to 5.35 percent, which is the lowest point in more than five years.
This week the US is expected to hear information about vehicle sales, manufacturing data and employment.
On the commodity markets the April crude contract in New York fell US$0.67 to US$49.09 a barrel. May copper was unchanged at US$2.69 a pound while the April gold contract jumped $4.40 to US$1,217.50 an ounce.
At 8:50 CST Monday morning, the TSX was up 9.67 points to 15,244.01.
