CN: Canadian dollar lower against U.S. currency on European debt worries
TORONTO - The Canadian dollar declined against the U.S. currency amid continuing nervousness about the government debt crisis in Europe. The loonie lost 0.27 of a cent to 99.14 cents US.
Moody’s Investors Service cut Ireland’s credit rating by five notches to Baa1 from Aa2 and warned of further downgrades if the country cannot regain control of its debts and tame its deficit.
Dietmar Hornung, the senior Ireland analyst for Moody’s, said Ireland remained vulnerable to further bad-loan shocks in its banks, which invested hundreds of billions in foreign borrowings on Ireland’s runaway property market during the Celtic Tiger boom of 1994-2007. It has suffered catastrophic losses since the market collapsed in 2008.
The higher U.S. dollar impacted crude prices with the January contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange down 35 cents to US$87.35 a barrel.
However, metal prices rose with the February gold contract on the Nymex ahead $2.60 to US$1,373.60 an ounce, while March copper was up two cents to US$4.14 a pound.
