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Positive Signs For CA Dollar
The Canadian dollar rallied for a third straight week, touching a 14-month high and moving closer to parity with its U.S. counterpart as signs of economic recovery pushed commodities and stocks higher.
Canada’s currency gained as crude oil, the nation’s largest export, surged 10 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed 10,000 for the first time in a year. The Bank of Canada will keep interest rates at a record low level when it meets on Oct. 20, according to all 23 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.
“As long as equities continue to go up, it will be positive for the Canadian dollar,” said Maria Jones, a currency trader in Toronto at TD Securities Inc., a unit of Canada’s second-biggest bank. Stocks will continue to rally as long as “we are seeing moderate growth in the U.S.” and the Federal Reserve holds interest rates near zero.
The Canadian currency, nicknamed the loonie for the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, appreciated 0.5 percent to C$1.0370 per U.S. dollar yesterday in Toronto, from C$1.0422 on Oct. 9. One Canadian dollar buys 96.44 U.S. cents. The currency climbed to $1.0207 on Oct. 15, the strongest level since July 29, 2008. The loonie and the U.S. dollar last traded on a one-for-one basis on July 22, 2008.
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