TORONTO _ The Canadian dollar was lower Thursday with crude oil prices at multi-year lows ahead of the release of the latest U.S. inventory levels later in the morning.
The loonie slipped 0.13 of a cent to 88.26 cents US.
The December crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 94 cents to US$76.24 a barrel. Later today, the U.S. Energy Information Administration will publish weekly oil inventory data. On Friday, the focus will be on the International Energy Agency's monthly oil market report.
Meanwhile, OPEC said October crude production fell by 226,400 barrels a day, to 30.25 million barrels, reflecting a drop in Saudi output to 9.6 million barrels a day.
However, analysts believe this output is still significantly above the level needed to balance the market and further action will be needed at the cartel's meeting later this month.
Elsewhere on commodity markets, the December gold bullion contract in New York rose $2.70 to US$1,161.80 an ounce while December copper inched a penny higher to US$3.04 a pound.
Statistics Canada is expected to release its September manufacturing survey on Friday.
The U.S. consumer will be in focus Friday as retail sales data for October is released, along with the University of Michigan's consumer confidence survey.