Canada’s currency appreciated for the first day in four as investors stepped up purchases of equities and commodities, reducing the comparative attractiveness of the U.S. dollar as a haven. “The market has a mild appetite for risk,” said Steven Butler, director of foreign-exchange trading in Toronto at Scotia Capital, a unit of Canada’s third-largest bank. “The U.S. dollar is being sold this morning. Stocks look OK and commodities are rebounding a little.” The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.5 percent to C$1.2384 per U.S. dollar at 10:19 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.2449 yesterday. The currency earlier touched C$1.2523, the weakest since Jan. 23. One Canadian dollar buys 80.76 U.S. cents. The MSCI World, a benchmark equities index for 23 developed markets, rose 0.3 percent to 831.35. Crude oil for March delivery rose 33 cents to $40.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Canada’s currency will decline to C$1.26 against the U.S. dollar by the end of the first quarter before rebounding to C$1.20 by year-end, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 42 economists.

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