Canada's dollar edged higher against a broadly weaker greenback on Friday, which was hurt by sluggish US data, even as many traders focused on Tuesday's Bank of Canada interest rate decision. The US economic outlook set the tone early after worse-than-expected consumer spending and a sharp slide in pending home sales added to a recent run of soft data.
Markets expect tepid US growth to force the Federal Reserve to keep US interest rates near zero well into 2012, thus undermining the US dollar's appeal to global investors. Slightly stronger equity markets and commodity prices also helped the Canadian dollar hold its ground against the greenback.
The Canadian currency ended the North American session at C$0.9773 to the US dollar, or $1.0232, up slightly from Thursday's North American session close at C$0.9787 to the US dollar, or $1.0218. The day's range held between C$0.9798-C$0.9754 and the currency was virtually flat for the week.