The Canadian dollar eased against the US currency on Friday after a mixed domestic retail sales report for August, although losses were capped because the broader economic picture was unchanged.
Bonds edged up on some of the weaker details in the data. At 9:35 am, the currency was at C$1.1809 to the US dollar, or 84.68 US cents, down from C$1.1780 to the US dollar, or 84.89 US cents, at Thursday's close.
Canadian retail sales dipped 0.3 percent in August on a drop in vehicle sales, Statistics Canada said. Analysts had forecast, on average, a seasonally adjusted decline of 0.4 percent in August. Statscan lowered July's overall sales gain to 1.4 percent from the preliminary 1.5 percent.
Excluding the key auto sector, sales rose 0.2 percent, below July's unrevised 0.7 percent gain and below the 0.5 percent gain that Bay Street analysts had expected.
"Overall the report was quite mixed in terms of the details," said Carolyn Kwan, financial markets economist at Scotia Capital. "The currency has weakened off slightly. Among other things, it wasn't really a great report but I wouldn't call this the start of a negative trend."
Market observers said high energy prices may show that it is crimping some consumer spending in the month's ahead as total sales volumes in August fell 1 percent.
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