Futures and Commodity Market News

Sun May 11, 2008

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WINNIPEG, MB, Apr 28, 2008 (Resource News International via COMTEX) -- The Canadian dollar was trading at a firmer level versus the US dollar at midday on Monday. Advancing commodity prices were a key factor supporting the resource-based Canadian currency, market watchers said.

Positive momentum for the Canadian dollar began early in the session when global crude oil values traded briefly at US$119.93 per barrel, establishing a fresh all-time intraday record high, according to traders. While values have fallen off that record high, prices were still higher at midday. Gold prices meanwhile, also moved upwards and further underpinned the Canadian dollar.

While the upward price action in crude oil is beneficial to Canada, which is a major exporter of the commodity, analysts warned that continued strong oil prices could begin to weigh on the already beleaguered US economy. That would be to the detriment of Canada, which relies heavily on the US to purchase the bulk of its exports.

No economic data of any significance was released in Canada on Monday.

Market watchers will be looking ahead to Wednesday, when Canada releases its gross domestic product data for February, market watchers said.

At 11:59 CDT, the Canadian dollar was trading at 98.70 US cents or C$1.0131. This compares to Monday's morning level of 98.34 cents or C$1.0168 and Friday's North American close of 98.41 US cents or C$1.0161.

At midday on Monday, the TSX was higher, up 75.8 points at 11:59 CDT to sit at 14,179.7.

Resource News International

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