Canada’s dollar traded near its strongest level against its U.S. counterpart since June 23 as U.S. stock-index futures rose, supporting demand for riskier assets. The currency has declined 1.9 percent so far this quarter as signs of a faltering North American recovery prompted a flight from higher-yielding assets to the perceived safety of such haven currencies as the greenback and the yen. Stocks gained today as Group of 20 leaders pledged to reduce government deficits while continuing to nurture economic growth. “The Canadian dollar is slightly stronger which is line with risk appetite starting to emerge,” said Matthew Strauss, senior currency strategist at Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto. “With little domestic economic data of note, the Canadian dollar will look to global developments, the price of oil and general risk appetite or risk aversion for direction.” Canada’s currency, known as the loonie, touched C$1.0321 per U.S. dollar, the strongest level since June 23, before trading at C$1.0341 at 8:32 a.m. in Toronto, compared with C$1.0355 on June 25. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.2 percent. Crude oil futures fell 0.6 percent. The Canadian dollar tends to track movements in stocks and commodities. The loonie has gained 8.6 percent this year according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Currency Indices, the second-best performance among its 10 developed-world counterparts as Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis burnished the allure of currencies back by relatively strong balance sheets. Canada, the last member of the Group of Seven industrialized nations to enter the global recession, was the first to recover, thanks partly to having the Group of Seven’s lowest debt-to-GDP ratio and the world’s soundest financial system, according to the World Economic Forum. To contact the reporters on this story: Cordell Eddings in New York at ceddings@bloomberg.net;

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