Canada’s dollar fell for the first time in three days against its U.S. counterpart as equities dropped, discouraging demand for higher-yielding assets. The loonie, as the currency is sometimes known for the image of the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, remained lower after a government report showed Canada’s current-account deficit widened in the April-June period more than economists forecast to the second largest on record. “It’s that slight bit of risk-off we’re getting,” said Camilla Sutton, a currency strategist in Toronto at Bank of Nova Scotia’s Scotia Capital. “It’s all working slightly against Canada.” The loonie depreciated 0.3 percent to 97.93 cents per U.S. dollar at 9:30 a.m. in Toronto, from 97.69 yesterday. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0211. Payments sent abroad exceeded receipts from outside Canada by C$15.3 billion ($15.7 billion) in the second quarter, trailing only the C$17.9 billion in the third quarter of last year, Statistics Canada said today. A Bloomberg News economist survey had a C$13.7 billion shortfall as the median estimate. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.3 percent. Futures on crude oil, Canada’s biggest export, increased 0.1 percent to $87.39 a barrel in New York trading. To contact the reporter on this story: Catarina Saraiva in New York at asaraiva5@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

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