By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, May 30 – The Canadian dollar was lower against its US counterpart at midday Friday, as economic growth numbers for the first quarter failed to live up to expectations.
Statistics Canada said the country’s GDP rose 1.2% in the first quarter, well below initial estimates of 1.8%. On a monthly basis, GDP was up 0.1% in March, which matched earlier projections.
In commodity markets, the June crude oil contract fell 87 cents to US$102.71 a barrel, which was bearish.
July copper slipped one cent to US$3.13 a pound, while August gold fell $11.70 to US$1,245.40 an ounce, which was also bearish.
At 11:30 CDT Friday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9212 or US$1.0855, which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.9228, or US$=$1.0836.
At 11:30 CDT Friday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was down 26.54 points to sit at 14,562.41.
