Canadian dollar weakens after inflation data miss views

The Loonie came under selling pressure on Friday after fresh data showed an unexpectedly sharp cooling in Canada’s consumer price growth.

Consumer prices were up 1.6 per cent year-on-year in March, compared with a rise of 2 per cent in the previous month, and expectations of 1.8 per cent. On a month-on-month basis, prices were up 0.2 per cent, short of the 0.4 per cent that was expected.

The Canadian dollar, which was trading flat ahead of the news, was recently down by 0.17 per cent against the buck at C$1.3492.

According to Statistics Canada:

Prices were up in five of the eight major components in the 12 months to March, with the transportation and shelter indexes contributing the most to the year-over-year rise in the CPI. The food index and the clothing and footwear index declined year over year, while the price index for household operations, furnishings and equipment was unchanged.