By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, March 9 – The Canadian dollar was higher against its American counterpart at midday Monday, pushed upwards by advances in gold and oil.
The loonie was at US$0.7945 or US$1 = C$1.2559 at 11:45 CDT Monday morning.
The dollar was pressured however by some underwhelming housing data. A new report shows housing starts in the country fell from 187,025 in January to just 156,276 in February. Multiple urban starts were also down significantly as well.
A new forecast from Goldman Sachs predicts US crude will drop to US$40 a barrel.
General Motors Co. has announced plans to hold a US$5 billion share buyback as part of an agreement with unhappy investors.
On the commodity markets the April crude contract in New York settled higher at US$50.21 a barrel. The April gold contract leaped US$3.50 to US$1,169.70 an ounce.
At 11:45 CDT Monday morning, the Toronto Stock Exchange was down 33.39 points to 14,990.11.
