TORONTO _ The Canadian dollar was slightly higher Thursday as the greenback continued to weaken on indications from the U.S. Federal Reserve that it is in no hurry to hike interest rates.
The loonie edged up 0.02 of a cent to 90.08 cents US.
The Canadian currency jumped just over half a U.S. cent Wednesday after minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest meeting showed that central bank officials agreed that they would begin raising interest rates only when measures of the economy's health and inflation signalled the time was right.
They showed that the Fed has moved away from linking any rate change to any specific period.
The Fed also expressed concern about the slowing of the global economy and how a stronger U.S. dollar could impact American economic growth.
Worries about Europe grew Thursday amid another dose of glum economic data from the continent's biggest economy.
The latest data showed that German exports plunged in August as increasing uncertainty over the crisis in Ukraine and the timing of summer holidays combined to produce the largest drop in five years. August exports dropped 5.8 per cent over July while imports dropped 1.3 per cent.
Other German industrial data released this week also showed drops in factory orders and production. The International Monetary Fund also added to investor unease after it said global economic growth will be lower than expected this year and next.
Oil prices were slightly lower after falling $3 over the last two sessions on signs of lower demand and a sharp rise in U.S. inventories last week. The November contract in New York was 30 cents lower to a fresh 18-month low of US$87.01 a barrel.
Other commodity prices edged higher. December copper gained three cents to US$3.04 a pound while December gold jumped $26.50 to US$1,232.50 an ounce.
Meanwhile, traders looked to the major Canadian economic report for the week. On Friday, Statistics Canada releases the jobs report for September and economists expect that the economy cranked out about 15,000 jobs.