BLBG: Canada’s Dollar Weakens on ‘Political Uncertainty,’ Drop in Oil
By Chris Fournier
Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s currency depreciated for a second day as the nation’s opposition parties threatened to unseat the government, and stock markets and commodities tumbled.
The loonie, as Canada’s dollar is known because of the aquatic bird on the one-dollar coin, fell in November for a sixth straight month, the longest losing streak in 15 years.
“What isn’t weighing on the loonie?” said Firas Askari, head currency trader in Toronto at BMO Nesbitt Burns, a unit of Canada’s fourth-largest bank. “Political uncertainty, weak commodities, weak equities -- I’m surprised the Canadian dollar isn’t even weaker.”
The Canadian dollar dropped as much as 0.6 percent to C$1.2476 per U.S. dollar, from C$1.2398 on Nov. 28. It traded at C$1.2467 at 7:53 a.m. in Toronto. One Canadian dollar buys 80.18 U.S. cents.
The main opposition Liberal Party is threatening to take down Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives and form a coalition government after a Dec. 8 vote in Parliament.
Harper, seeking to prevent the collapse of his six-week-old government, backtracked on plans to change party funding rules and pledged to expedite a stimulus package for the world’s eighth-largest economy.
The MSCI World Index fell, its first retreat in seven days, as manufacturing in Europe and China slumped, signaling the global economic crisis is worsening.
Oil for January delivery dropped as much as $2.90, or 5.3 percent, to $51.53 a barrel. Crude accounts for 21 percent of the Bank of Canada’s Commodity Price Index, the largest single component.
Harper, who won re-election Oct. 14 to form the country’s third consecutive minority government in four years, has one week to persuade opposition parties to keep him in power.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net