By Chris Fournier Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s dollar extended a drop after the nation’s central bank amplified a warning about the currency’s strength, saying it will “more than fully offset” recent signs of economic growth in the nation. “This appears to be quite a step up in the level of rhetoric,” said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at TD Securities Inc. in Toronto, a unit of Canada’s second-largest bank. “They seem to be blaming the strength of the Canadian dollar for quite a lot of the weakness we’re seeing in the economy.” The Canadian dollar is trading near the strongest level since July 2008, approaching parity with the greenback, after gaining 18 percent this year. Bank of Canada policy makers today held the target rate for overnight loans between commercial banks at 0.25 percent, as all 26 economists in a Bloomberg News survey predicted. The currency depreciated 1 percent to C$1.0389 per U.S. dollar at 9:25 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0284 yesterday. It touched C$1.0207 on Oct. 15. One Canadian dollar buys 96.25 U.S. cents. Canada’s dollar posted gains for the past three weeks. The probability it will trade at C$1 per U.S. dollar at year-end is 57 percent, down from 66 percent yesterday, according to implied volatility from options trading monitored by Bloomberg. Crude oil for November delivery fell as much as 0.7 percent today to $79.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude is Canada’s biggest export.

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