The Canadian dollar ended lower against the greenback on Friday, as weaker than expected domestic data knocked the currency from a 30-year high. Bond prices rose, as weak gross domestic product numbers from April caused many to question whether back-to-back rate hikes by the Bank of Canada are still in the cards.
The Canadian currency finished at C$1.0654 to the US dollar, or 93.86 US cents, down from C$1.0594 to the US dollar, or 94.33 US cents, at Thursday's close.
The currency touched a high of C$1.0475 to the US dollar, or 95.47 US cents earlier on Friday, driven by merger-related buying of Canadian dollars and firm commodity prices. But, it fell sharply after Statistics Canada said economic growth came to an unexpected standstill in April on a downturn in wholesale trade and manufacturing.
The soft GDP numbers follow a string of disappointing domestic news recently, but Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at TD Securities, said the bigger picture for the Canadian economy still looks solid. "I think (the GDP numbers) were clearly a bit weaker than expected, but I don't think they really changed the tone of the economy here. We still expect Q2 growth to be relatively strong," said Osborne.
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