Canadian dollar falls due to US economy\'s soft patch

The Canadian dollar sank to the lowest since March against its US counterpart as weaker-than-forecast data signalled the American economy is slowing, and crude oil, Canada\'s biggest export, dropped the most in a month. Canada\'s currency, known as the loonie, gained for a second week versus the euro as Eur-opean leaders bickered over a rescue for Greece before reaching a compromise Friday. The loonie fell against the currencies of fellow commodity exporters Australia and South Africa before a report this week that may show growth in Canadian leading indicators slowed. \"The Canadian economy\'s largest trading partner is the US, and the US economy has hit a bit of a temporary soft patch,\" said Greg Salvaggio, senior vice president of capital markets in Washington at the currency-trading firm Tempus Consulting. \"There has been so much flow related to oil lately that we\'re seeing the major sell-off in commodities really steer Canada.\" The loonie, nicknamed for the image of the bird on the C$1 (Dh3.7) coin, traded at 97.94 cents per US dollar, compared with 97.99 on June 10. It reached 98.99 cents on June 16, the weakest level since March 17. One Canadian dollar purchases $1.0210. Canada ships 75 per cent of its exports to the U.S. The Canadian currency gained 0.4 per cent for the week against nine other developed-nation currencies tracked by the Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Currency Indexes. It rose 0.3 per cent versus the euro to C$1.4015 and touched the strongest level in three weeks, C$1.3825, on June 16. It fell 0.8 per cent to C$1.0405 per Australian dollar and weakened 0.6 per cent to 14.49 cents per South African rand. Government bonds rose, pushing the yield on Canada\'s benchmark 10-year note down six basis points, or 0.06 percentage point, to 2.94 per cent. It touched 2.89 per cent on June 16, the lowest level since November. The price of the 3.25 per cent security due in June 2021 gained 52 cents to C$102.62. Crude oil for July delivery tumbled 6.3 per cent to $93.01 a barrel in New York and touched $91.84, the lowest level since Feb. 22. It closed at $99.29 on June 10. The Standard & Poor\'s GSCI Spot Index of raw materials dropped 4.7 per cent, its first weekly loss in more than a month. Canada derives about half its export revenue from raw materials including oil. The loonie tumbled on June 16 as the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia\'s general economic index unexpectedly fell in June to minus 7.7, the lowest level since July 2009, from 3.9 in May. From / Gulf News