By Catarina Saraiva Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s dollar gained to the strongest level in two weeks versus its U.S. counterpart as oil rose and as signs indicated the labor market in the U.S., the nation’s biggest trading partner, is recovering. Canada’s currency rose against the euro after Ireland’s credit rating was cut by Standard & Poor’s, renewing concern that Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis may worsen. Oil, Canada’s biggest export, traded above $90 per barrel for the third day. “Anything that indicates that U.S. growth is stronger than expected is positive for the Canadian growth outlook,” said Camilla Sutton, a Bank of Nova Scotia currency strategist in Toronto. “Oil is above $90, so that’s positive.” The Canadian dollar gained 0.4 percent to 98.71 cents per U.S. dollar at 9:57 a.m. in New York, after touching 98.69, the strongest since Jan. 18. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0131. It rose 0.5 percent to C$1.3627 per euro, from C$1.3699. Crude oil futures rose 0.8 percent to $91.45 a barrel. Companies in the U.S. added 187,000 workers in January after a revised 247,000 gain in December, according to figures from ADP Employer Services. The median estimate in the Bloomberg News survey called for a 140,000 gain last month. Jobs Data Both the U.S. and Canada will report January unemployment Jan. 4. Canada added 15,000 jobs in the month after a 30,400 gain in December, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 26 economists. The loonie, as Canada’s currency is known for the image of the waterfowl on the C$1 coin, has traded above parity with its U.S. counterpart every day this year, the longest such period since December 2007. Canadian businesses need to get used to the nation’s currency trading at parity with its U.S. counterpart, according to Edmund Clark, chief executive officer of Toronto-Dominion Bank, the nation’s second-largest lender. “That’s certainly the feeling,” Clark said in an interview at Bloomberg offices in New York yesterday. “As long as Asia is growing at the rate it is, you’re going to have upward pressure on commodities and that’s going to drive the Canadian currency.” Carney Stance Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, who has kept the overnight lending rate unchanged at 1 percent since boosting it for the third consecutive meeting in September, said the currency’s appreciation has threatened growth. “One of the risks to the Canadian economy is persistent strength to the Canadian dollar,” Carney said in a Bloomberg Television interview at the World Economic Forum’s meeting in Davos, Switzerland, last week. Canada’s currency outperformed those of other commodity- exporting countries, such as Australia, after gaining less than its peers yesterday. The loonie gained 0.4 percent today in a basket of 10- developed nation currencies, according to Bloomberg Correlation- Weighted Currency Indexes. Australia’s dollar fell 0.1 percent and Norway’s Krone dropped 0.3 percent. The Canadian dollar yesterday added 0.1 percent while the Aussie rose 0.5 percent. The yield on Canada’s benchmark 10-year note was little changed at 3.34 percent. The price of 3.5 percent bond due in June 2020 rose 3 cents to C$101.30. The Bank of Canada plans to sell C$3 billion ($3 billion) of 10-year notes today. The 3.25 percent securities mature in June 2021, according to the BOC website. --Editors: Paul Cox, Greg Storey To contact the reporter for this story: Catarina Saraiva in New York at asaraiva5@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

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