By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, December 2 – The Canadian dollar fell against its American counterpart at midday Tuesday, as the plunging price of crude oil continued to influence the country’s economic picture.
The loonie was at US$0.8775 or US$1 = C$1.1396 at 11:50 CST Tuesday morning.
Several major banks are expected to announce this week where they will take their respective interest rates. Canada’s rate has been unchanged at one per cent for four years, and is widely expected to remain so. The Bank of Canada will make an announcement on Wednesday. The Bank of England and the European Central Bank will announce their decisions on Thursday.
Market-watchers will be keenly watching to see the tone of Wednesday’s announcement by Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz, according to a trader.
On the commodity markets, the February gold contract slid US$19.70 to $1,198.40 an ounce while March copper dipped 1.3 cents to US$2.88 a pound. The January crude oil contract slumped US$1.37 to US$67.63 a barrel.
At 11:50 CST Tuesday morning, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 46.82 points to 14,672.14.
