By Chris Fournier Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s dollar touched a three-week low on speculation China will seek to curb its faster-than- expected economic expansion, dimming the appeal of currencies that traditionally benefit from global growth. “This move in the Canadian dollar was more related to the China data,” said Blake Jespersen, director of foreign exchange in Toronto at Bank of Montreal, Canada’s fourth-largest lender. “It looks like China will have to do some more tightening. That’s having a negative impact on commodity currencies.” China’s statistics bureau said the nation’s gross domestic product grew 10.7 percent last quarter from the year before, faster than the 10.5-percent median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey. China is the world’s largest consumer of many of the raw materials that Canada exports, such as copper. The Canadian currency depreciated as much as 0.6 percent to touch C$1.0524 per U.S. dollar, the weakest level this year, and traded little changed at C$1.0469 at 8:58 a.m. in Toronto, compared with C$1.0464 yesterday. One Canadian dollar buys 95.52 U.S. cents. Bank of Montreal’s Jespersen sees “some more downside” to the Canadian dollar and predicted it could weaken to C$1.0650. “We’re still looking to buy the Canadian dollar on dips, but this could be a big dip,” he said. Monetary Policy Report The Bank of Canada releases its quarterly monetary policy report today at 10:30 a.m. in Ottawa. Canadian wholesale sales climbed more than forecast in November, advancing 2.5 percent to C$42.4 billion ($40.4 billion) for a third consecutive monthly gain, a Statistics Canada report showed today. Economists expected a 0.5 percent rise, according to a Bloomberg survey. The gain was led by increased shipments in the automotive and food industries. Crude oil, Canada’s biggest export, fluctuated in New York before a report forecast to show that U.S. crude inventories increased for a third week. U.S. stock-index futures retreated after a government report showed jobless claims unexpectedly increased last week. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.2 percent after climbing as much as 0.4 percent earlier. Canada’s currency fell the most on an intraday basis yesterday in almost three months. 1.7 percent, after a report showed the nation’s inflation rate rose less than economists on average predicted, reducing pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates. To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net

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