By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, Sept 18 – The Canadian dollar strengthened relative to the US dollar at 11:51 CDT Thursday, amid ideas that the US Federal Reserve isn’t planning on raising interest rates any time soon, analysts said.
At 11:51 CDT Thursday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9129, or US$1=C$1.0954, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$0.9088 or US$1=C$1.1004.
Disappointing US housing starts and building data was also supportive, as was positive Canadian economic data.
Statistics Canada said Canadian investors added C$9.7 billion of foreign securities in July, the largest such investment since April 2007. Foreign investors acquired C$5.3 billion of Canadian securities during the month, the government agency also noted.
However, spillover pressure from the weakness seen in commodity prices, including crude oil, gold and copper, limited the upside.
Traders continued to watch Scotland closely, as they vote on whether or not to separate from the United Kingdom on Thursday.
The Toronto Stock Exchange was down 21.33 points, or 0.14%, at 11:51 CDT Thursday, to sit at 15,437.55.
