By Chris Fournier Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s dollar appreciated versus its U.S. counterpart, trading near the highest in three months, as crude oil, gold and copper climbed and rising stock markets burnished the appeal of currencies tied to economic growth. The Canadian dollar has gained 2.5 percent this month against the greenback, placing it among the top five of the 16 most-traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The Bank of Canada meets tomorrow to determine interest rates. “Gold, crude and equities are all up,” said Firas Askari, head currency trader in Toronto at BMO Capital Markets, a unit of Canada’s fourth-largest lender, citing reasons for the Canadian dollar’s gain today. The currency’s rise to parity with the greenback is “inevitable,” he said. The Canadian currency appreciated 0.2 percent to C$1.0271 per U.S. dollar at 7:47 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0291 on Jan. 15. It climbed to C$1.0225 the day before, the strongest in three months. One Canadian dollar buys 97.35 U.S. cents. Crude oil, Canada’s largest export, gained for the first day in six, with futures for February delivery up 0.5 percent to $78.40 a barrel a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. U.S. markets are closed today for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net

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