By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, Nov 20 – The Canadian dollar was firmer relative to the US dollar on Thursday, reacting to positive domestic sales data, analysts said.
Statistics Canada reported wholesale sales rose 1.8 per cent to C$54 billion in September.
At 11:46 CST Thursday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.8851 or US$1=C$1.1298, which compares with Wednesday’s North American settlement of US$0.8810 or US$1=C$1.1351.
Some spillover support for the Canadian currency also came from the gains seen in crude oil values, though weakness in gold was bearish.
Disappointing business and manufacturing data out of Europe and China were also weighing on the loonie, market watchers said.
The Toronto Stock Exchange was up 54.55 points, or 0.36%, at 11:46 CST Thursday, to sit at 15,034.70.
