By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, August 6 – The Canadian dollar was slightly higher on Wednesday as a much better than expected trade report trumped geopolitical concerns, analysts say.
At 9:00 CDT Wednesday morning, the loonie was up 0.04 of a cent to US$0.9128 = US$1 = C$1.0970 as Statistics Canada reported that the country’s trade surplus shot up to C$1.9 billion in June, up from a revised C$576 million in May.
The improvement came alongside a 1.1 per cent increase in exports in June, while imports declined 1.8 per cent, traders say.
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Exports of energy products were up 2.5 per cent to C$11.9 billion. Crude oil and crude bitumen increased 2.8 per cent to a record high of C$8.9 billion, as prices rose 2.2 per cent.
Despite the small increase in the Canadian dollar, it was generally a risk off day on financial markets as geopolitical concerns were high after news of a buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border. Poland’s prime minister announced on Tuesday that he was information indicating that there is a growing threat of a “direct intervention” by Russia in Ukraine.
On top of that, Russian president Vladmir Putin has told his government to prepare retaliatory measures against sanctions that have been levied by the U.S. and the EU for his country’s support of Ukrainian rebels.
On the commodity markets, December gold bullion was down $19.10 to US$1,304.40 an ounce. September copper was down five cents to US$3.16 a pound while September crude oil was up 13 cents to US$97.51 a barrel.
At 9:00 CDT Wednesday morning, the Toronto Stock Exchange was down 25.85 points to sit at 15,161.86.
