Canadian dollar, commodities advance in wake of Chinese manufacturing data

TORONTO – The Canadian dollar advanced Monday as markets focused on positive Chinese manufacturing data and the U.S. dollar weakened against other currencies.

The loonie rose 0.23 of a cent to 96.68 cents US.

The government-sanctioned China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said Saturday that its main manufacturing index edged up to 50.8 in May.

Another reading on the sector, HSBC’s monthly purchasing managers’ index for China, fell to 49.2 in May, down from 50.4 in April. Readings below 50 indicate a contraction.

The contrasting reports could be a sign of a two-speed recovery.

Bigger companies and ones that cater to China’s domestic market are more strongly represented by the official PMI while smaller private companies focused on exports are better covered by the report produced by HSBC and research firm Markit.

Commodity prices rose despite the conflicting Chinese data with the July crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange up 77 cents to US$92.74 a barrel after a weak global economic outlook depressed prices more than two per cent last week.

July copper gained four cents to US$3.34 a pound while August bullion on the Nymex rose $4.20 to US$1,397.20 an ounce.

Traders looked ahead to the most up-to-date snapshot of the American manufacturing sector. The Institute for Supply Management’s Index is being released mid-morning and is expected to ease to 50.5 down slightly from April’s reading of 50.7.

Markets also looked ahead to Friday when Canadian and U.S. employment data for May is released.