Canadian dollar at eight-month high against US dollar

Story link: Canadian dollar at eight-month high against US dollar

The euro had a strong start in European trade on Thursday, rising to $1.2323 in relation to the US dollar before falling back to $1.228 by midday in New York. The retreat was due to the release of Ifo’s index of business sentiment figures, which showed German sentiment lower than had been anticipated. However, the retreat was small as the market mostly ignored the new figures in favor of a group of recent positive economics indicators out of German.

Meanwhile, the yen was stronger in relation to the US dollar, standing at ¥110.3 in Asian trade, up from ¥109.9. This was despite figures which showed that the Japanese trade surplus was 22.6 percent lower than it had been last year at this time. The surplus stood at ¥873.6 billion. Analysts had predicted that it would fall farther than that, to ¥730 billion. One analyst said that high oil prices could explain the decline.

The US dollar was also lower, down to C$1.186 in relation to the Canadian dollar but it later fought back to C$1.1900. That was the best the Canadian dollar has done against the US dollar in eight months. The Canadian dollar’s strength has been attributed to the rise in crude oil prices. Canada is believed to have the world’s second-largest amount recoverable oil resources.