The Canadian Dollar has enjoyed a sort of resurgence over the last few days as improved economic sentiment and the prospect of the Keystone XL pipeline boosting Canada’s economic growth increased the currency’s appeal.
Climbing copper prices and an upbeat assessment for domestic expansion in 2014 from the International Monetary fund also had a positive impact on the Canadian Dollar.
The ‘Loonie’ was able to break above the 90 cents level against the US Dollar and hold its own against the Pound even as a report showed an unexpected surge in the UK’s construction sector.
During European trading the CAD/GBP pairing was able to extend gains as Sterling slipped slightly in response to a lacklustre services report.
Although the UK services sector expanded in January the pace of growth slowed, indicating that 2014 didn’t kick off to the dynamic start many were hoping for.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Dollar was little changed following the release of Canada’s building permits report.
The report showed a second month of declining permits, with the value of municipal permits falling 4.1 per cent in December rather than advancing by the 1.5 per cent forecast by economists.
November’s month-on-month decline was positively revised to 6.6 per cent.
While single-family home permits increased by 1.5 per cent, residential permits plunged 9.3 per cent.
The report also showed that across the whole of last year the value of building permits was 0.1 per cent lower than in 2012.
The data supports comments issued by Stephen Poloz, Governor of the Bank of Canada, regarding the housing market heading for a ‘soft landing’.
The Canadian Dollar barely fluctuated in the aftermath of the data publication. As observed by Malcolm Morrison of The Canadian Press; ‘The focus now is on the January employment report, which comes out on Friday. Expectations call for the economy to have created about 15,000 jobs after the economy shed 44,000 jobs during the previous month.’
Tomorrow GBP/CAD fluctuations are also liable to be triggered by the Bank of England’s rate decision.
Although economists are forecasting that the central bank will leave rates unaltered, the central bank might have to revise its rhetoric regarding keeping interest rates at record lows in light of the persistently strong UK employment figures.
Tomorrow’s Canadian Ivey Purchasing Managers Index for January will also be worth noting. In December the index produced a reading of 46.3, below the 50 mark separating growth from contraction.
Canadian Dollar (CAD) Exchange Rates
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Canadian Dollar,
,Pound Sterling,0.5544,
Canadian Dollar,,US Dollar,0.9049 ,
Canadian Dollar,,Euro,0.6674,
Canadian Dollar,,Australian Dollar,1.0121,
Canadian Dollar,,New Zealand Dollar,1.1051 ,
US Dollar,,Canadian Dollar ,1.1083 ,
Pound Sterling,,Canadian Dollar,1.8035,
Euro,,Canadian Dollar,1.4983,
Australian Dollar,,Canadian Dollar,0.9881,
New Zealand Dollar,,Canadian Dollar,0.9048 ,
[/table]
Comments are closed.