Internet Spoof, Soon Denied, Hits Canadian Dollar Mon Apr 1,10:53 AM ET TORONTO (Reuters) - An April Fool's Day internet report that Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin would quit his job to breed Charolais cows and "handsome fawn runner ducks" sent the Canadian dollar lower on Monday, as the market grabbed at the straw of anything that might resemble news.
Author Pierre Bourque, who flagged the spoof report on his political gossip Web site bourque.org, said he was baffled by the reaction. "It is April 1, after all," he told Reuters. "The ducks were the tell-tale sign."
A laughing official at Martin's office declined, as always, to comment on market rumors. But asked if there was any indication that the story might be true, the official said firmly, "No."
The report included hyperlinks to sites with pictures of white Charolais cows and large brown-and-white ducks. It said Martin was getting ready to show his livestock at a country fair in Havelock, a town in Quebec with 811 people.
On a supposedly serious note it said the Bank of Canada was getting ready to intervene to defend the dollar, which slipped on the report to a one-month low of C$1.6024 to the U.S. dollar, or 62.41 U.S. cents, down sharply from C$1.5942 to the U.S. dollar, or 62.73 U.S. cents, at the previous close.
"While no one has any reason to believe the rumor, the story has a lot of credibility given Martin's continued problems in claiming any high ground -- versus (Prime Minister Jean) Chretien -- within the Liberal Party," said David Ebata, managing analyst at Thomson IFR in Boston.
The currency later recovered to around C$1.60 to the U.S. dollar.
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