Canada’s currency weakened versus the U.S. dollar as investors took refuge in the greenback after European governments failed to agree on releasing a loan payment to Greece, damping demand for higher-yielding assets. The Canadian dollar rose against its Australian and New Zealand counterparts, gaining 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. It capped a weekly gain on June 17 after dropping for six straight weeks on speculation an economic recovery in the U.S., Canada’s largest trading partner, will be protracted. “There’s a U.S. dollar bounce across the board,” said Firas Askari, head currency trader in Toronto at Bank of Montreal’s BMO Capital unit. “If anything, the Canadian dollar is holding in better than most.” Canada’s dollar depreciated 0.5 percent to 98.41 cents per U.S. dollar at 8:22 a.m. in Toronto, from C$97.94 on June 17. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0162 U.S. cents. The euro region’s top economic policy makers, on the eve of a confidence vote that threatens to topple Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s government, pushed the Mediterranean nation to pass laws to cut its deficit and sell state assets. They left open whether Greece will get the full 12 billion euros ($17.1 billion) promised for July as part of last year’s 110 billion-euro lifeline. 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

Source