By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, August 6 – The Canadian dollar was higher against its US counterpart at midday Wednesday, as Statistics Canada reported the country’s trade surplus rose to C$1.9 billion in June.
Surging energy exports are credited as being the main driver behind the surplus. Exports of energy products were up 2.5 percent to C$11.9 billion. In May, the trade surplus was just C$576 million.
Geo-political concerns in Ukraine and Russia limited the upside.
On the commodity markets, the December gold contact rose $23.20 to US$1,308.50 an ounce. September copper dropped four cents to US$3.17 a pound. The September crude oil contract rose US$0.11 cents to US$97.49 a barrel.
At 11:45 CDT Wednesday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9158 or US$1.0919, which compares with Tuesday’s North American close of US$0.9124, or US$=$1.0960.
At 11:45 CDT Wednesday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 21.04 points to sit at 15,208.75.
