Ahead of Mark Carney’s final policy meeting as Governor of the Bank of Canada, and with crude oil futures erratic, the ‘Loonie’ fluctuated against its US, Australian and New Zealand counterparts.
The Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate was in the region of 0.9682 against the US Dollar as of 15:25 GMT
Carney is stepping down as BOC Governor in order to take up the same post with the Bank of England.
Economists are generally forecasting that Carney will leave policy unaltered, and the benchmark rate unchanged, before handing over the reins to Stephen Poloz.
As one Toronto-based currency expert noted: ‘You’ve got the bank meeting tomorrow, which is Carney’s last address as the Governor of Canada, so the market is sort of waiting for that.’
Well, there isn’t long to wait as the BOC’s rate decision will be announced tomorrow, at 14:00 GMT.
Positive economic news from the US also affected the ‘Loonie’ this afternoon. One piece of data showed that in the year to March the nation’s home prices gained by the most for seven years, showing ‘continued gradual recovery’ in the residential housing market.
Meanwhile, a separate report revealed consumer confidence to be at its highest level since early 2008. Although economists had anticipated the US index rising from 68.1 to 71 in April it actually hit 76.2 last month.
Before the report was published senior economist David Sloan commented: ‘Equity market strength and particularly job growth, that’s really the key. The economy and confidence will move up together. As employment grows, people can feel more secure in spending’.
The better-than-expected result is likely to fuel speculation that the Federal Reserve will begin to wind down its current easing measures in the months ahead.
The Canadian Dollar experienced a little movement after the data was released. Although economic advancement in the US is likely to benefit Canada in the long term (as the latter nation relies heavily on the former nation for trade) at present the data is serving to highlight the discrepancies between the neighbouring economies.
In the days ahead the piece of Canadian news most likely to inspire ‘Loonie’ movement is Friday’s first quarter gross domestic product figures.
Year-on-year GDP is expected to have grown by 1.5 per cent in March, down from February’s growth of 1.7 per cent. Month-on-month GDP is forecast to have advanced just 0.1 per cent.
Current Canadian Dollar (CAD) Exchange Rates:
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The Canadian Dollar/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.9682 >
The Canadian Dollar /Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.7474 <
The Canadian Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6395 <
The Canadian Dollar/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.9992 <
The Canadian Dollar /New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.1998 >
The Pound Sterling/Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.5599 <
The US Dollar/ Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.0348 >
The Euro/Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3348 <
The New Zealand Dollar/Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8352 >
The Australian Dollar/Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.0005 >
(Correct as of 15:25 GMT)
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