BLBG: Canadian Dollar Hovers at Parity Before Central Bank Meeting
By Chris Fournier
April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s dollar was worth more than its U.S. counterpart for a second day as traders shored up bets before the nation’s central bank meets next week to determine interest rates.
“The market is settling in for a wait until the Bank of Canada decision,” said Eric Lascelles, chief economics and rates strategist in Toronto at Toronto-Dominion Bank. “I’m not sure we’ll get a lot to push the Canadian dollar up or down in the next few days. Everyone is making their bets and we’ll see how it plays out.”
The Canadian currency was little changed at 99.95 Canadian cents per U.S. dollar at 8:11 a.m. in Toronto, compared with 99.86 cents yesterday. The loonie, as the currency is known for the waterfowl on the C$1 coin, traded through the U.S. dollar last week for the first time in almost two years.
Canada’s dollar is among the best-performing major currencies this year as the nation’s economy accelerates out of recession and on speculation interest rates may rise faster than in other developed countries. The currency reached 99.54 cents per U.S. dollar yesterday, the highest since June 2008, after rising to parity April 6 for the first time in 20 months.
Toronto-Dominion, the nation’s second-largest lender, predicts the central bank will raise interest rates by 50 basis points in the third quarter and by another 50 basis points by year-end. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
The Bank of Canada’s next three meetings are on April 20, June 1 and July 20.