BLBG: Canadian Dollar Fluctuates as Stocks Advance, Crude Oil Declines
The Canadian dollar fluctuated against its U.S. counterpart amid a rise in equity-index futures and a decline in crude oil, the nation’s largest export.
Canada’s currency, dubbed the loonie for the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, was poised for annual and monthly losses versus the greenback. The Canadian dollar may pare losses today as institutional investors buy and sell currencies for year-end positioning.
“I would expect anyone positioning for 2012 would be lightening up on euro exposure and adding to other exposure, especially that of strong sovereigns like Canada,” said Camilla Sutton, head of currency strategy at Bank of Nova Scotia in Toronto. “It’s always good to start off the year positioned the way you want to be.”
The loonie was little changed at C$1.0210 per U.S. dollar at 8:02 a.m. Toronto time, rising 0.1 percent and falling 0.2 percent. It touched C$1.0126 two days ago, the strongest since Dec. 8. One Canadian dollar buys 97.92 U.S. cents.
The loonie is the fourth-worst performer this year after the euro, Norwegian krone and Sweden’s krona among the 10 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index increased 0.2 percent. Futures on crude oil declined 0.8 percent to $98.84 a barrel in New York.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Robert Burgess at bburgess@bloomberg.net
