BS: Canada’s Dollar Drops by Most in Two Weeks as Risk Rally Pauses
By Chris Fournier
Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s dollar fell by the most in more than two weeks versus its U.S. counterpart as stocks and commodities such as crude and copper declined, crimping demand for higher-yielding assets.
The Canadian currency strengthened to a four-month high last week as speculation officials are containing the European debt crisis boosted global equities. The Canadian currency slid versus most of its major counterparts as the Group of 20 nations rebuffed calls from the euro area to boost international lending resources. Crude, Canada’s largest export, snapped its longest rally in two years.
“It’s nothing more than the risk rally taking a breather,” said Stephen Gallo, head of market analysis at Schneider Foreign Exchange in London. He said traders are waiting for the results of today’s vote in Germany on the second Greek aid package and the European Central Bank’s long-term refinancing operation on Feb. 29.
Canada’s currency depreciated 0.4 percent to C$1.0031 per U.S. dollar at 8:17 a.m. in Toronto, after falling as much as 0.6 percent, the most since Feb. 10. One Canadian dollar buys 99.70 U.S. cents.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 0.5 percent and the MSCI World Index of equities in developed nations declined 0.4 percent.
--Editors: Kenneth Pringle, Dennis Fitzgerald
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net
