BLBG: Canadian Currency Rises From Six-Week Low as Crude Oil Gains
By Allison Bennett
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s dollar climbed from a six- week low versus its U.S. counterpart as crude oil advanced, making currencies linked to commodities more attractive.
The currency, nicknamed the loonie for the image of an aquatic bird on a C$1 coin, gained versus 7 of its 16 most- traded counterparts tracked by Bloomberg, increasing versus the pound and the Australian dollar
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.2 percent to C$1.0683 per U.S. dollar at 8:34 a.m. in Toronto, compared with C$1.0704 on Jan. 29. It touched C$1.0722, the weakest level since Dec. 18. One Canadian dollar buys 93.61 U.S. cents.
The loonie tends to track commodities and stocks. The 30-day correlation coefficient for crude oil and the loonie is 0.62 and 0.60 for the currency and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index A reading of 1 would mean a move in lockstep.
Crude oil for March delivery gained 0.8 percent to $73.46 a barrel. S&P 500 Index futures expiring in March added 0.6 percent as Exxon Mobil Corp. reported more profit than analysts estimated on average.
To contact the reporter on this story: Allison Bennett in New York at abennett23@bloomberg.net