Canada: Building Permits declined by 7.3% in February

• Building Permits in Canada fell more than expected in February.
• USD/CAD pair continues to edge higher above 1.40 handle after data.

The value of Building Permits issued by Canadian municipalities declined by 7.3% on a monthly basis in February, the data published by Statistics Canada showed on Wednesday. This reading followed an increase of 3.3% (revised from 4%) in January and came in worse than the market expectation for a fall of 4.5%. 

"On a year-over-year basis, the value of building permits issued by Canadian municipalities fell 23.2% to $1.4 billion when compared with March 2019," the press release further read.

Market reaction

The USD/CAD pair gained traction on this disappointing data and was last seen trading at 1.4033, up 0.3% on a daily basis.