By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, December 18 The Canadian dollar weakened against its US counterpart on Friday, as Statistics Canada released data reflecting contraction in wholesale trade, and crude oil futures fell.

At 8:40 a.m. CST the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7158 or C$1.3970 which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.7168, or C$1.3950.

At 8:40 a.m., New York Mercantile crude oil futures had lost US$0.38 to sit at US$34.57 a barrel.

In Canadian domestic data, wholesale sales declined 0.6 per cent to C$54.7 billion in October, a fourth consecutive decrease. Declines were recorded in four subsectors, led by lower sales in the food, beverage and tobacco and the motor vehicle and parts subsectors, Statistics Canada said in a report on Friday.

The TSX was holding steady in early activity, down only 0.21 points at 8:40 a.m. CST to sit at 13,009.72.