By Alexandra Harris March 25 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s dollar headed for its biggest weekly gain against its U.S. counterpart in a month as crude oil, the nation’s biggest export, traded near a two-week high on concern fighting in Libya will further disrupt supply. The loonie, as the currency is known for the image of the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, rose today against the Swiss franc on bets the global economic recovery will withstand Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis and Japan’s worst earthquake on record. “Most factors are moving in favor of the Canadian dollar,” said Camilla Sutton, a Bank of Nova Scotia currency strategist in Toronto. “Oil prices and its developments in the Middle East continue to be the key driver for the Canadian dollar in the near term.” Canada’s currency traded at 97.57 cents per U.S. dollar at 8:15 a.m. in Toronto, compared with 97.52 cents yesterday. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0249. The loonie has appreciated 0.9 percent this week in what would be the biggest gain since climbing 1 percent during the five days ended Feb. 25. Crude oil for May delivery in New York advanced as much as 0.3 percent to $105.88 a barrel before trading little changed at $105.65. It increased yesterday to $106.69 a barrel, the highest level since March 7. --Editors: Dennis Fitzgerald, Greg Storey To contact the reporter for this story: Alexandra Harris in New York at aharris48@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

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