Canada’s dollar strengthened through par with the greenback on optimism European officials will forge a plan that contains the region’s debt crisis before the Bank of Canada delivers its policy decision. The currency appreciated to the highest level in more than a month for the third-best performance among its 16 most-traded counterparts. All 27 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News predict the Ottawa-based central bank will leave its policy rate at 1 percent, where it’s been since September 2010. “We’re not expecting much from the Bank of Canada,” said Blake Jespersen, director of foreign exchange in Toronto at Bank of Montreal, in a telephone interview. “They’ll stick to the script. The bank will be somewhat of a non-event and Europe remains the focus.” Canada’s currency climbed as much as 0.5 percent to 99.91 cents per U.S. dollar and traded at $1.001, up 0.3 percent, at 7:50 a.m. in Toronto. It last traded above parity on Sept. 21. The currency, nicknamed the loonie, is up for four straight days, the longest streak since July. One Canadian dollar buys 99.91 cents. The euro reached a six-week high versus the dollar as European leaders prepared to meet to complete a solution to the region’s debt crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and fellow EU leaders will return to Brussels tomorrow for a second summit in four days to discuss Europe’s bailout fund. “There’s a lot of optimism that a plan will be unveiled that will satisfy the market’s very high expectations,” said BMO’s Jespersen. “I’m a bit surprised to see risk appetite so strong. The market is getting ahead of itself.” 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

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