TORONTO - The Canadian dollar headed lower Wednesday due to softening commodity prices, particularly copper. The loonie was down 0.31 of a cent to 98.02 cents US. The price of July copper dipped six cents to $3.23, signalling a weakening outlook for China and Europe and leaving the Canadian dollar vulnerable to more declines. The loonie is down two per cent, after it was flirting with parity against the U.S. greenback last week. The June crude contract was down 93 cents to US$93.28 a barrel and June gold bullion dropped $18.10 to US$1,406.40 an ounce. Meanwhile, weak economic data across the eurozone pushed European stocks lower, as news hit that the 17-country currency bloc is now in its longest-ever recession. Europe's economic motor, Germany, returned to growth but still disappointed. Its gross domestic product rose 0.1 per cent in the first quarter of the year. That's less than the 0.3 per cent rise analysts were expecting. Meanwhile, the French economy, the bloc's second-largest, fell back into recession. In morning trading in Europe, France's CAC-40 index was down 0.2 per cent to 3,958, while the DAX in Germany fell 0.1 per cent to 8,332. Britain's FTSE index of leading shares dropped 0.2 per cent to 6,672. Earlier, Asian stocks focused instead on an improving U.S. economy. On Tuesday, a report from the National Federation of Independent Business showed a slight improvement in confidence among U.S. small business owners in the U.S. in April. Japan's Nikkei 225 index surged 2.3 per cent to close at 15,096.03, propelled by a falling yen and a surge in Sony's shares. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.5 per cent to 23,044.24. South Korea's Kospi added 0.1 per cent to 1,971.26. Benchmarks in India, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan also rose. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.6 per cent to 5,191.70.

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