* C$ at $0.9790 versus the U.S. dollar, or $1.0214
* Oil and metal prices lower
* U of Michigan data may provide some direction
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Oct 12 (Reuters) – The Canadian dollar traded
little changed against the U.S. dollar on Friday, with weaker
commodity prices weighing on sentiment and traders looking to
upcoming data to find out whether North America is brushing off
global economic stumbles.
At 9:15 a.m. (1315 GMT), the Canadian currency was at
C$0.9790 versus the U.S. dollar, or $1.0214, down from
Thursday’s North American session close of C$0.9787 to the
greenback, or $1.0218.
It moved in a narrow range of C$0.9794 and C$0.9768 in the
session.
“Ultimately we need to see some signs that the North
American economy is holding up,” said Jeremy Stretch, head of
foreign exchange strategy at CIBC World Markets in London.
He pointed to the University of Michigan’s preliminary
consumer sentiment survey data, out at 9:55 a.m. (1355 GMT), as
a possible catalyst.
“If we do get a bit of a bounce in those, which I think we
should, that might provide a little bit of impetus for the CAD
to test to the downside again.”
Even so, a break below C$0.9760 would likely encourage
Canadian dollar selling that would limit the currency’s
strength, he said.
Canadian government bond prices rose. The two-year bond
added 3 Canadian cents to yield 1.139 percent, while
the benchmark 10-year bond gained 17 Canadian cents
to yield 1.790 percent.
