Canada’s dollar slid to the lowest level in more than two weeks as global equities and commodities fell on concern the global recovery is slowing, sapping demand for assets related to economic growth. The loonie dropped along with the currency of its rival commodity producer Australia against the greenback as investors sought refuge. The Canadian dollar remained lower after a report showed Canada’s factory sales dropped in September. “The overall environment is still weak for risk assets,” Sacha Tihanyi, a currency strategist in Toronto at Bank of Nova Scotia’s Scotia Capital unit, wrote via e-mail. “Canadian dollar strength or outperformance would be hard to justify in such an environment.” The Canadian currency depreciated as much as 0.7 percent to C$1.0169 per U.S. dollar, the weakest level since Nov. 1, before trading at C$1.0145 at 8:36 a.m. in Toronto, compared with C$1.0099 yesterday. One Canadian dollar buys 98.59 U.S. cents. The MSCI World Index of equities dropped for a seventh day, falling 0.5 percent in the longest losing streak since January on concern China will take steps to curb inflation and as European officials met to discuss Ireland’s debt turmoil. Futures on crude oil dropped as much as 1.5 percent to $83.56 a barrel, the lowest level since Nov. 2. Canada’s factory sales fell 0.6 percent in September after a 2 percent advance in the prior month, Statistics Canada reported today in Ottawa. The median forecast of 20 economists in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 0.9 percent decrease. To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

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