By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, February 18 – The Canadian dollar was lower against its American counterpart at midday Wednesday, as declining oil prices led values lower.
The loonie was at US$0.8031 or US$1 = C$1.2452 at 11:50 CST Wednesday morning.
Oil prices were unable to sustain gains made on Tuesday. Analysts say rising inventories of US crude were to blame.
Investors were waiting to see the minutes of last month’s US Federal Reserve meeting where the thorny topic of interest rate hikes was raised.
US housing starts were on the decline according to a report that examined stats for January.
On the commodity markets the March copper contract fell one cent to US$2.56 a pound. The March crude contract in New York was down US$1.33 at US$52.20 a barrel. The April gold contract fell US$9.70 to US$1,198.90 an ounce.
At 11:50 CST Wednesday morning, the Toronto Stock Exchange was down 66.75 points to 15,217.86.
