BLBG:Canadian Dollar Rises on Forecasts for Consumer-Indicators Gains
The Canadian dollar rose against the majority of its most-traded counterparts before data forecast to show retail sales increased in April and consumer prices were up in May, suggesting household spending is expanding.
The currency fluctuated versus its U.S. peer as crude oil, the country’s biggest export, rose for the first time in three days. Canada’s consumer price index increased 0.9 percent in May on an annualized basis from a 0.4 percent gain the month before and retail sales added 0.2 percent in April after being unchanged the month before, according to separate economist surveys by Bloomberg.
“The fact that Canadian data is really the only thing going on in North America today means there might be more focus on it,” said Greg T. Moore, a currency strategist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, by phone from Toronto. “And particularly because retail sales and CPI are key figures for domestic data that adds to the idea it might be fairly market moving.”
The loonie, as the Canadian dollar is known, gained 0.1 percent to C$1.0380 per U.S. dollar at 7:38 a.m. in Toronto. One loonie buys 96.34 U.S. cents.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Altstedter in Toronto at aaltstedter@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net
