Canada’s dollar rose to a three- month high against its U.S. counterpart as U.S. stock-index futures advanced. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures expiring in June rose 0.7 percent after initial claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell and JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported better-than- estimated earnings. “Stock futures turned around, and this C$1.20 level seems to be attracting some attention,” said Steve Butler, director of foreign-exchange trading in Toronto at Scotia Capital Inc., a unit of Canada’s third-largest bank. The currency, known as the loonie, advanced 0.3 percent to C$1.2002 per U.S. dollar at 8:58 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.2033 yesterday. It touched C$1.1997, the strongest since Jan. 12. One Canadian dollar buys 83.32 U.S. cents. The loonie will weaken to C$1.26 against the U.S. dollar this quarter before rebounding to C$1.16 by the end of 2010, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 38 analysts and economists.

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