By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, April 10 – The Canadian dollar was slightly lower against its US counterpart at midday Friday, as a rise in Canadian employment figures reinforced ideas the Bank of Canada will not look to cut interest rates.
The loonie was at US$0.7941 or US$1 = C$1.2593 at 11:45 CDT Friday morning. A new report indicated the country’s jobless rate remained at 6.8 percent last month and recorded a net gain of 29,000 jobs.
Bombardier is reportedly exploring ways it can raise money from its transportation unit. The unit is reportedly valued at up to C$5 billion.
Canadian housing starts are on the increase. According to a new report, the seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts rose to 189,708 units last month from a bearish and revised 151,238 units in February.
On the commodity markets the April crude contract in New York rose US$0.53 to US$51.32 a barrel. The April gold contract jumped US$12.20 to US$1,205.48 an ounce.
At 11:45 CDT Friday morning, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 58.48 points to 15,384.79.
