CEP: Canadian Dollar Makes Slight Gains Against Majors as Oil Climbs Off Lows
Combined with a rally in equity markets, higher crude oil prices are helping the loonie to rise against major foreign currencies.
West Texas Intermediate futures contracts are up $0.80 per barrel to $36.20, following a modest uptrend from a level of $35.00 earlier in the morning. As such, the commodity-driven loonie is trading higher against majors despite being mixed overall during Friday's session.
The Canadian dollar is up 0.0001 to 0.6086 against the euro, off the CAD/EUR's earlier low of 0.6050. The cross has been rising off its lows since 9 a.m. EST.
The loonie is meanwhile down 0.0027 to 0.5426 against the pound sterling. However, the CAD/GBP was at 0.5387 at 9 a.m. EST.
Elsewhere, the loonie is down 0.0038 to 1.2003 against the Australian dollar, with gold outperforming oil. Gold at the Chicago Board of Trade is up $27.50 per ounce to $834.80. The Australian dollar, a fellow commodity currency, typically moves with gold prices.
Meanwhile, as equity markets post gains (Dow Jones industrial average up 56 points to 8268), the loonie is higher against the traditionally safe haven Japanese yen and U.S. dollar. The CAD/JPY is up 1.41 points to 73.11, while the CAD/USD is up 0.0099 to 0.8082.
The CAD/USD's gains today have come following a notable sell-off on Thursday, during which the loonie hit a one-month-plus low of 0.7896
