By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, November 13 – The Canadian dollar was lower against its US counterpart at midday Thursday, largely swayed by plunging crude oil prices.
The drop in price happened due to a larger-than-expected decline in crude inventories and sharp rise in supplies of gasoline. Gas inventories rose by 1.8 million barrels last week. Analysts had expected a mere 280,000 barrel increase.
Traders are also anxiously waiting for the September manufacturing survey, due out on Friday.
The December copper contract fell two cents at US$3.01 a pound. The December crude oil contract fell US$2.00 to hit US$75.18 a barrel. December gold rose US$5.10 to $1,164.20 an ounce.
At 11:45 CST Thursday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.8799 or US$1.1364, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$0.8837, or US$=$1.1316.
At 11:45 CST Thursday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was down 52.53 points to sit at 14,803.67.
