By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, August 11 – The Canadian dollar was higher on Monday amid strong domestic housing data and a great willingness to take on risk, even as traders kept their eyes on geopolitical flashpoints.
At 9:00 CDT Monday morning, the loonie was up 0.14 of a cent to US$0.9129 or US$1 = C$1.0982 as Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported that housing starts during July came in at an annualized rate of 200,098. This was up slightly from 198,665 in June.
The currency tumbled over 4/10ths of a cent on Friday in the wake of a huge miss in Canadian employment data for July. Only 200 jobs were created in July, well-off the 20,000 jobs that economists had expected.
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Traders were more inclined to take on risk Monday, after Russia called an end to military exercises near Ukraine on Friday and withdrew troops to their bases.
However, violence escalated in the city of Donetsk as Ukraine government forces closed in on the rebel stronghold and insurgents backed away from a cease-fire order. There are worries floating around that Russia might directly intervene in Ukraine’s civil war if it appeared the pro-Russian rebels were in danger of being defeated, traders say.
The Toronto Stock Exchange was up 40.29 points to sit at 15,236.60 at 9:00 CDT Monday morning.
