By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, August 19 – The Canadian dollar was lower against its US counterpart at midday Tuesday, as the loonie faltered against its American counterpart which was gaining strength on the back of positive US housing data.
Home construction in the US surged 15.7% in July to an annualized rate of 1.09 million. Analysts say that is the quickest pace in eight months. Home Depot Inc. also reported quarter earnings of 14%.
The situation in Ukraine also appears to have calmed for the moment which supported markets.
On the commodity markets, the December gold contact fell $4.00 to US$1,295.30 an ounce. September copper slid two cents to US$3.09 a pound. The September crude oil contract fell US$0.61 cents to US$95.80 a barrel.
At 11:35 CDT Tuesday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9143 or US$1.0937, which compares with Monday’s North American close of US$0.9186, or US$=$1.0886.
At 11:35 CDT Tuesday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 113.27 points to sit at 15,451.74.
