TORONTO _ There was little movement with the Canadian dollar Wednesday amid stronger than expected figures for Canadian housing starts, and ahead of a key employment report on Friday.
The loonie gained 0.07 of a cent at 93.73 cents US.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says housing starts rose to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 198,185 units in June, compared with 196,993 units in May.
The figures were stronger than the expected 190,000 units that analysts had been expecting. It is the third consecutive month where starts hovered around the 200,000 range, and is another indicator that the Canadian housing market is not yet headed towards a slowdown.
The housing starts report came as Royal LePage said Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary are driving increases in national average home prices, while smaller cities had more moderate gains.
The real estate company said the average price of a home in Canada increased between 3.9 per cent and 5.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2014 and prices are expected to go up steadily for the rest of the year.
Although the housing data is important, it will likely be overshadowed by the latest employment figures, which will be released at the end of the week. Economists expect Statistics Canada will report that about 24,000 jobs were created last month compared with 25,800 in May, with the jobless rate remaining unchanged at seven per cent.
Meanwhile, commodity prices were mostly lower, with August crude dipping 13 cents to US$103.40 a barrel. August gold bullion lost 50 cents to US$1,316.50 an ounce, after posting gains earlier in the day, while September copper was unchanged at US$3.26 a pound.
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