(Bloomberg) -- Statistics Canada says it’s working to fix technical problems with its website “as soon as possible” after the issues delayed Tuesday’s release of international trade figures.
The agency published a document containing the data on its website shortly before 9 a.m. Ottawa time, nearly 30 minutes after the release was scheduled.
“We are still looking into the situation and will provide an update to our users when we have more information, particularly as it relates to future releases,” Carter Mann, the agency’s head of media relations, said in an email.
The next major release is jobs data for September, scheduled for Friday at 8:30 a.m.
The international trade report was posted online before journalists inside a media lockup were allowed to publish their stories. Typically, the lockup is lifted at the exact same time that the information is released to the public.
Asked about the delay between the online publication and the end of the lockup, Mann would only say that the material was published on the internet “around 9 a.m.” and journalists in the lockup were allowed to release their stories “at 9 a.m.”
The data — which showed Canada recorded its sixth straight monthly trade deficit — appears to have had little market impact. The loonie traded between C$1.3638 and C$1.3648 per US dollar in the 10-minute window surrounding the release.
Still, delays create the possibility that some investors receive potentially market-moving information before others.
“As a one-off event, a significant delay on a major release probably wouldn’t have significant impacts, but if it were to be perceived as part of a pattern, it would risk undermining Canada’s attractiveness to international investors,” Andrew Kelvin, head of Canadian and global rates strategy at TD Securities, said in an email.
The website was still malfunctioning as of 12:55 p.m. Ottawa time.
--With assistance from Erik Hertzberg.
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