Canada’s dollar dropped against most of its major counterparts after China raised interest rates for the third time since mid-October, damping demand for assets linked to growth such as oil, Canada’s largest export. The loonie, as the currency is known for the image of the waterfowl on the C$1 coin, dropped the most against the New Zealand dollar and Sweden’s krona. Oil fell to the lowest level in more than a week. “China tightened rates last night and oil has responded by moving lower and that’s probably weighing on the Canadian dollar,” said Shane Enright, executive director at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s CIBC World Markets unit in Toronto. The Canadian dollar rose 0.1 percent to 99 cents per U.S. dollar at 7:41 a.m. in Toronto, from 99.08 cents yesterday. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0101. The currency fell 0.4 percent to C$1.3509 per euro and dropped 0.6 percent to 76.76 cents per New Zealand dollar. Crude oil fell 1.5 percent to $86.18 per barrel after reaching $85.88, the lowest since Jan. 28. China is the world’s biggest energy user. China’s benchmark one-year lending rate will increase to 6.06 percent from 5.81 percent, effective tomorrow, the People’s Bank of China said on its website. The one-year deposit rate will rise to 3 percent from 2.75 percent. To contact the reporter for this story: Catarina Saraiva in New York at asaraiva5@bloomberg.net

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