BLBG: Canada’s Dollar Rises From Near Two-Week Low on Oil
June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s currency appreciated from near the lowest in two weeks as oil and U.S. stock index futures rose, burnishing the appeal of commodity-linked currencies.
The loonie, as Canada’s dollar is known, strengthened 1.1 percent to C$1.1035 per U.S. dollar at 8:14 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.1157 yesterday, when it touched $1.1291, the weakest level since May 26. One Canadian dollar buys 90.62 U.S. cents.
Selling of the U.S. dollar left “the Canadian dollar as the best-performing Group-of-10 currency overnight,” Christian Lawrence, a currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in London, wrote today in a note to clients. “Oil price action was also supportive.” RBC predicts the Canadian dollar will weaken to C$1.14 by year-end.
The loonie has risen 10 percent this year on speculation a recovery in the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, will benefit Canada, which ships more than three-quarters of its exports south of the border.
“Canada is the U.S.-plus,” said Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy in New York at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. “Green shoots in the U.S. do Canada a lot of good.”
The Canadian currency will depreciate to C$1.15 against the U.S. dollar by year-end, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 40 economists and analysts.
