BLBG: Canada’s Currency Appreciates as Commodities, Equities Advance
By Chris Fournier
Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s dollar strengthened as commodities such as crude oil and gold rose and global stocks climbed, increasing the appeal of currencies tied to growth and damping demand for the U.S. dollar.
“All signs are great for the Canadian dollar,” said Firas Askari, head currency trader in Toronto at BMO Capital Markets, a unit of Canada’s fourth-largest lender. The only reason the currency isn’t stronger is that “everyone is already long the Canadian dollar,” he said. A long position is bet a currency will rise.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.3 percent to C$1.0579 per U.S. dollar at 8:07 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0612 yesterday, when it touched C$1.0529, the strongest since Sept. 20 2008. One Canadian dollar buys 94.53 U.S. cents.
Crude oil for November delivery gained as much as 1.5 percent to $70.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as the U.S. dollar weakened against the euro and a government report showed an unexpected drop in American crude supplies. Crude is Canada’s biggest export.
Gold futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division climbed as high as $1,059.60 an ounce, setting a record for a third day.
The Bank of Canada is scheduled to release details today about its Oct. 15 auction of 30-year bonds. The information will be available on the bank’s Web site at 3:30 p.m. New York time.