CTV: Canadian dollar above parity with U.S. dollar
TORONTO — The Canadian dollar was slightly above parity with the U.S. dollar Thursday as the greenback lost ground against other currencies including the euro in thin, year-end trading.
The loonie was up 0.09 of a cent to 100.03 cents US.
The Canadian currency has moved above parity several times this past year but has rarely closed above that level. The dollar last closed above or level with the greenback on Nov. 10.
The U.S. dollar declined after weaker-than-expected reports Tuesday on U.S. consumer confidence and the country's housing market disappointed investors and weighed on the currency.
The Canadian currency advanced amid a mixed picture on the commodity markets.
Strong Chinese manufacturing data sent copper prices further into record territory with the March copper contract ahead six cents to US$4.37 a pound. Prices for the metal resumed climbing following a pause Wednesday in the wake of data showing China's manufacturing boom lost some momentum during December but still continued to expand strongly.
The HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index dipped to a three-month low of 54.4 in December from November's 55.3 on a 100-point scale where numbers above 50 show activity expanding.
Production still expanded at a steep pace in December and didn't slow enough to allow factories to cut down on order backlogs, HSBC said.
Strong demand from emerging economies such as China's has pushed copper prices up more than 30 per cent during 2010.
Oil prices fell after a report showed U.S. crude supplies unexpectedly rose last week, which suggests that a recovery in demand may have slowed.
The February crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 36 cents to US$90.76 a barrel after the American Petroleum Institute said Wednesday that crude inventories rose 3.1 million barrels last week while analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., had forecast a drop of 3.2 million barrels.
Gold prices backed away slightly with the February bullion contract in New York off $1 to US$1,412.50.
