By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, January 12 – The Canadian dollar was lower against its American counterpart at midday Monday, as tumbling oil prices weighed down the loonie.
The loonie was at US$0.8378 or US$1 = C$1.1936 at 11:45 CST Monday morning.
A report by Goldman Sachs which reduced forecasts for global benchmark crude prices sent energy stocks reeling. The forecast predicted oil inventories will increase over the first half of 2015.
A survey from the Bank of Canada found companies in Western Canada planned to reduce their investments in equipment and hiring’s as a result of the depressed energy market.
Investors are also waiting to see December retail sales data from the US which is due to be released on Wednesday.
On the commodity markets the February crude contract in New York was down US$1.98 at US$46.38 a barrel. March copper was down four cents to US$2.72 a pound while the February gold contract jumped 11.40 to US$1,227.50 an ounce.
At 11:45 CST Monday morning, the Toronto Stock Exchange was down 183.88 points to 14,201.04.
