By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, January 30 – The Canadian dollar was lower against its American counterpart at midday Friday, as worrying figures regarding the country’s economy cast a bearish tone.
The loonie was at US$0.7859 or US$1 = C$1.2724 at 11:50 CST Friday morning.
New data showed Canada’s economy shrunk unexpectedly in November and covered many sectors including manufacturing, mining and oil and gas extraction.
Barclays Bank said it was surprised by the Bank of Canada’s decision to cut the interest rate and downgraded several major Canadian banks.
However, in a new report the International Monetary Fund said it believes the Canadian economy will keep growing by 2.3 percent this year. It also said it supported the move to lower interest rates.
On the commodity markets the April crude contract in New York was up US$0.56 at US$45.09 a barrel. The February gold contract rose US$21.60 to US$1,277.50 an ounce.
At 11:50 CST Friday morning, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 30.36 points to 14,666.32.
