BLBG: Canadian Dollar Rises With Stock and Commodity Prices on Economic View
Canada’s dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart for the first time in three days as most major stock markets and commodities rose on optimism the global economic recovery will continue.
The Canadian currency rose as European stocks advanced and with U.S. futures and Asian shares gained amid speculation the Federal Reserve will continue to support the recovery even as growth in the world’s largest economy accelerates.
“Investors are a little more comfortable with risk assets this morning, with commodity prices recovering and global equity markets generally firmer,” Shaun Osborne, chief foreign exchange strategist at TD Securities in Toronto, said in a note to clients. Investors are waiting “to see if the Fed acknowledges the improving growth backdrop.”
Canada’s currency rose as much as 0.3 percent before trading at 99.55 cents per U.S. dollar at 8:24 a.m. in New York, from 99.68 cents yesterday. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0045.
Crude oil for March delivery rose 0.7 percent to $86.83 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude is Canada’s biggest export. Copper for delivery in three months climbed 0.8 percent to $9.317 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his fellow policy makers conclude a two-day meeting in Washington today, having given no indication of scaling back their plans to inject $600 billion of stimulus into the financial system.
“We lean towards the Fed re-confirming its policy of purchasing ‘$600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the second quarter of 2011,” George Davis, chief technical analyst at RBC Dominion Securities in Toronto, wrote in a note to clients.
The yield on Canada’s benchmark 10-year note rose three basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 3.30 percent. The price of the 3.5 percent bond due in June 2020 fell 25 cents to C$101.57.
To contact the reporter for this story: Frederic Tomesco in Montreal at tomesco@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg
