By Chris Fournier Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s currency depreciated for the first time in four days against its U.S. counterpart as traders speculated gains may be overdone and global stocks fell. The Canadian dollar dropped 0.3 percent to C$1.0688 per U.S. dollar at 8:11 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0658 yesterday, when it gained 1.1 percent, the most in almost three weeks. One Canadian dollar buys 93.57 U.S. cents. “The move yesterday was very sudden, very sharp,” said Jonathan Gencher, Toronto-based director of foreign-exchange sales at BMO Capital, a unit of Canada’s fourth-largest bank. “I’m taking it as a healthy pause for the market. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the U.S. dollar do better on the day” Among the 16 most-traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg, Canada’s dollar performed best against the U.S. dollar last month, rising 7.9 percent. The dollars of Australia and New Zealand, which like Canada’s tend to rise and fall with stocks and commodity prices, rose 3.7 percent and 2.5 percent in July. The Canadian currency, nicknamed the loonie, touched C$1.0633 earlier today, the strongest since Oct. 2. Canada’s statistics agency is scheduled to release a report on building permits on Aug. 6 and employment data the next day. To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net

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