April Fool blow to Canada dollar

An April Fool's Day joke about Canada's finance minister backfired so badly that it triggered a major dip in the value of the Canadian dollar.

A website reported Paul Martin was about to resign in order to breed cattle and ducks. It predicted Mr Martin would spend his retirement raising "prize Charolais cattle and handsome Fawn Runner ducks which he plans to show this fall at the Brome Lake and Havelock fairs". There were also links to pictures of the relevant animals.

However, Canada's currency dealers failed to notice the date or that the report on the gossip site, www.bourque.org, was sprinkled with warning flags.

Nervous traders were further rattled by the report's claim that the Bank of Canada was standing by to prop up the Canadian dollar once Mr Martin's "resignation" became public. The dollar fell to its lowest point in a month against the US dollar.