BLBG: Canadian Dollar Advances as Stock, Commodity Gain Supports Demand for Risk
Canada’s dollar rose against its U.S. counterpart as stock-index futures and commodities advanced, encouraging demand for higher-yielding assets.
The loonie fell the most since July against the greenback last week as crude oil, Canada’s biggest export, tumbled on concern the global recovery is stalling. Crude oil futures rose as much as 3.6 percent today, increasing after their biggest weekly decline since 2008.
“We have a nice rebound in crude and commodities in general,” Michael Leavitt, an institutional-derivatives broker at MF Global Canada Co. in Montreal, said via e-mail. “North American equities are posting gains. That’s all helping to prop up the Canadian dollar.”
The loonie, as the Canadian currency is known for the image of the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, appreciated 0.3 percent to 96.42 cents versus the greenback at 8:01 a.m. in Toronto, from 96.66 on May 6. The day before that it slipped to 97.13, the weakest level since April 18. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0372.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 0.4 percent. Crude oil for June delivery gained 2.7 percent to $99.89 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after touching $100.69.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at cfournier3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net
