By Chris Fournier Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s dollar appreciated to the highest in a week after Russia’s central bank said it will add the currency to its reserves, and as crude oil and stock-index futures rose. Canada’s dollar, nicknamed the loonie, advanced against all but two of its 16 most-traded counterparts, South Africa’s rand and Australia’s dollar. The U.S. dollar was the worst performing so-called major currency. The Russian central bank plan “is contributing to broad U.S. dollar weakness,” said Stephen Gallo, head of market analysis at Schneider Foreign Exchange in London. “It’s difficult to say if it’s a bigger deal for the Canadian dollar or for the negative story behind the U.S. dollar, but I suspect it may be evenly balanced.” The Canadian currency strengthened as much as 1.2 percent to C$1.0453 per U.S. dollar, the highest level since Nov. 18, and was up 1 percent at 8:07 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0580 yesterday. One Canadian dollar buys 95.46 U.S. cents. “Technical preparations for transactions in Canadian dollars are under way,” a Bank Rossii official said by phone in Moscow, declining to be identified in line with the regulator’s policy. “Then there may be one, two other currencies and that’s it,” he said, confirming remarks to parliament today by Sergei Shvetsov, the central bank’s financial operations chief. To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net

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