By Chris Fournier Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart, headed for a second straight five- day advance as crude oil and stocks rose. The Canadian currency, nicknamed the loonie after the image of the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, appreciated 1.3 percent since Sept. 4, the biggest weekly gain since mid-August. The U.S. dollar fell this week against all 16 of the most-traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg. “The tide has turned aggressively against the U.S. dollar since traders returned to their desks following the Labor Day holiday” on Sept. 7, said Stephen Gallo, head of market analysis at Schneider Foreign Exchange in London. “Equities made new 2009 highs, and oil has been resilient as well,” which helped the Canadian dollar strengthen, he said. The Canadian currency traded at C$1.0771 per U.S. dollar at 10:11 a.m. in Toronto, compared with C$1.0772 yesterday. One Canadian dollar buys 92.84 U.S. cents. Against the greenback today, Canada’s dollar underperformed all but five of the 16 most-traded currencies, the Australian dollar, Brazil’s real, Sweden’s krona, the Taiwanese dollar and the Mexican peso. The loonie is the fourth-worst performer this month. “The U.S. dollar is generally down, but Canada is not fully participating in that action,” said Eric Lascelles, chief economist and strategist at TD Securities Inc. in Toronto, a unit of Canada’s second-biggest bank. Budget Deficits Reasons may include Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s statement yesterday that Canada’s budget deficits will be double earlier forecasts, as well as the Bank of Canada’s “lack of urgency” in removing fiscal stimulus, Lascelles said. The central bank kept interest rates at a record low 0.25 percent yesterday and extended a pledge to hold the rate through June 2010, depending on inflation. Policy makers also reiterated concern that “persistent” currency strength is a risk to economic recovery. Flaherty said today in an interview on BNN Television that the government has “limited” tools to deal with the appreciation in the currency, the Financial Post newspaper reported. Crude oil for October delivery was little changed today at $71.97 a barrel in New York, swinging between gains and losses. Lack of momentum in crude, Canada’s largest export, contributed to the loonie’s trading little changed, according to Firas Askari, head currency trader in Toronto at BMO Capital Markets, a unit of the nation’s fourth-biggest bank. Crude oil was headed for a 6.4 percent gain for the week. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fluctuated, touching 1047.82 today, the highest since October 2008. “Just about everyone has jumped on board the Canadian- dollar bandwagon of late, so the trade is a little crowded,” BMO’s Askari said. “I’m convinced the Canadian dollar will appreciate eventually.”

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