Enlarge Image Canadian dollars or "loonies" are shown with U.S. dollars Tuesday, April 6, 2010 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
TORONTO - The Canadian dollar was higher Tuesday as investors took in a mixed reading on Canadian retail sales and stronger-than-expected purchasing managers data from China.
The loonie rose 0.42 of a cent to 101.42 cents US after Statistics Canada said that retail sales rose 0.7 per cent in June to $37.8 billion, a third consecutive monthly increase and a bit better than the 0.6 per cent reading that economists expected.
However, retail sales excluding the auto segment decreased 0.1 per cent. Economists had expected a rise of 0.3 per cent.
The agency said that higher sales and lower prices at new car dealers accounted for most of the 1.6 per cent increase in retail sales in volume terms.
There was relief on financial markets following the release of HSBC’s preliminary purchasing managers index for China’s manufacturing sector. The index rose to 49.8 in August from 49.3 in July. Analysts said that there had been worries the reading would come in much worse.
Commodity prices were higher following the HSBC data as the October crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange climbed $1.32 to US$85.74 a barrel after running ahead about $2 on Monday.
Hopes for higher demand from China helped push the September copper contract on the Nymex up seven cents to US$4.03 a pound.
Gold prices slipped after nervous investors pushed bullion into record territory for the last four sessions. The December contract in New York was down $15.80 to US$1,876.10.
Traders on financial markets also looked ahead to a key speech by U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke during an annual economics conference in Wyoming on Friday. The Fed already pledged to maintain its super-low interest rates until at least 2013 but some economists are calling for a third round of massive bond-buying to pump money into the faltering U.S. economy.
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