960413

Canadian dollar

unchanged, bonds

stronger

TORONTO: The Canadian dollar closed unchanged in very light flows after trading in a tight range all day, dealers said on Friday.

The unit is suffering from a lack of volatility that is keeping major players away, while other more active currencies garner investor interest.

One dealer said the unit will not move significantly until it breaches its current C$1.3550/C$1.3600 range.

The Canadian dollar closed unchanged at C$1.3565 (US$0.7372). On the crossers, Canada closed at 1.1100 marks against 1.1075 marks and 80.05 yen against 80.02 yen.

BONDS STRONGER

Canadian bonds closed stronger on Friday amid a rebound in the US market after the release of key US economic data, analysts said.

"The major factor was the huge rebound in the US. It came back quite smartly," said Michael Gregory, a Toronto economist and strategist with Lehman Brothers. "I think a lot of people who were going into the numbers short had to cover positions and it helped provide a good boost to the market."

Canada's 9.0 percent of 2025 rose C$0.69 to C$108.65 to yield 8.213 percent against the US 30-year benchmark, which rose 1 15/32 to yield 6.81 percent.

The strong US rally helped to widen the spread between the benchmark bonds to 140 basis points from 135 at Thursday's close.

Canadian and US bond markets rose on Friday as the US government reported the overall consumer price index for March rose 0.4 percent, compared with expectations for a 0.3 percent gain. March retail sales rose 0.1 percent, against a forecast of a 0.3 percent rise.-Reuter