WINNIPEG – The Canadian dollar is slipping away from the 79 United States cent mark, while crude oil prices make gains.
As of 8:45 a.m. CST on Tuesday, the loonie was at US$0.7866 or US$1=C$1.2713, compared to Friday’s close of US$0.7888 or US$1=C$1.2678. The Bank of Canada did not post the closing exchange rate on Monday due to the New Year’s Day holiday.
The United States Dollar Index jumped 0.10 of a point to 96.32. President Joe Biden is expected to appoint former Federal Reserve governor Sarah Bloom Raskin as vice-chair of supervision at the central bank.
Benchmark crude oil prices increased on Tuesday as demand outweighed concerns over the Omicron COVID-19 variant. Brent crude oil gained US$0.84 per barrel to US$79.82. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) added US$0.83 to US$76.91/barrel. Western Canadian Select (WCS) increased US$0.61 to US$62.83/barrel. OPEC+ and its allies agreed on Tuesday to add 400,000 more barrels a day starting in February.
Downplaying the severity of Omicron, the TSX/S&P Composite Index surged 168.00 points to 21,390.84.
Gold gained US$8.50 per ounce to US$1,808.60.
