Canadian dollar moves lower amid higher oil, positive economic data

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The Canadian Press, On Wednesday May 18, 2011, 8:49 am
By Malcolm Morrison, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - The Canadian dollar was lower against the American currency Wednesday morning.

The loonie fell a fifth of US cent to 102.62 cents US as the dollar failed to catch a lift from rising commodity prices.

Oil prices advanced amid a crude supply report that provided mixed signals about U.S. demand while the greenback weakened against other currencies.

The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that U.S. crude inventories rose 2.7 million barrels last week, more than the increase of 500,000 barrels predicted by analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

However, inventories of gasoline fell by 676,000 barrels last week and distillates dropped 2.8 million barrels, the API said.

The June crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $1.20 to US$98.11 a barrel.

Metals were also higher with the July copper contract on the Nymex up four cents to US$4.04 a pound.

Precious metals also advanced as the June gold contract in New York climbed $11.50 to US$1,491.50 an ounce.

On the economic front, Canadian wholesale sales turned around in March following a drop during February.

Sales edged up 0.1 per cent to $46.8 billion following a 0.9 per cent decline in February.

Statistics Canada said there were gains in the motor vehicle and parts and miscellaneous subsectors. But these were offset by declines in other areas including the machinery, equipment and supplies and food subsectors.