By Chris Fournier Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart as crude oil, the nation’s largest export, and global equities swung between gains and losses, diminishing the appeal of currencies tied to growth. Canada’s dollar, nicknamed the loonie, was the third-worst performer versus the greenback today among the 16 most-traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg, behind the dollars of fellow commodity exporters New Zealand and Australia. A report on U.S. gross domestic product may give impetus to foreign-exchange trading, according to currency strategist Sacha Tihanyi at Bank of Nova Scotia. “This looks like a general market move, and crude is volatile,” said Toronto-based Tihanyi, whose firm is Canada’s third-largest lender. “We await U.S. GDP to see if we get some Canadian dollar support off of it, if it’s positive.” The Canadian currency depreciated 0.2 percent to C$1.0577 per U.S. dollar at 8:07 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0556 yesterday. One Canadian dollar buys 94.56 U.S. cents. The loonie will strengthen to C$1.04 by the end of the first quarter next year, according to the median forecast of 38 economists and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Crude for December delivery fell as much as 0.9 percent before trading little changed at $77.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude is up 74 percent this year. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.3 percent after dropping 0.4 percent earlier. The MSCI World Index, a gauge of equities in 23 developed nations, retreated 0.1 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net

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