BLBG:Canada’s Dollar Climbs as ‘Positive Tone’ Bolsters Risk Seeking
Canada’s dollar appreciated versus its U.S. counterpart as increased demand for higher-yielding assets boosted U.S. stock-index futures and commodities, benefiting growth-linked currencies.
Canada’s currency is down 2.3 percent this month on speculation a stalling global recovery will crimp demand for the nation’s raw materials, which account for about half its export revenue. Crude oil, copper, zinc and gold advanced.
“The Canadian dollar is benefiting from the general market tone, which seems to be to the positive side,” said David Watt, senior currency strategist at Royal Bank of Canada’s RBC Capital Markets, by phone from Toronto. “Markets aren’t as nervous as they were. Some of those fears that had been built into markets in the last couple of weeks seem to be dissipating.”
The Canadian currency increased 0.5 percent to 97.78 cents per U.S. dollar at 7:58 a.m. in Toronto, compared with 98.24 cents yesterday. The loonie, as the currency is known, dropped to a six-month low of C$1.0010 on Aug. 9 when the Federal Reserve said the U.S. recovery is “considerably slower” than anticipated. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0227.
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