Market Optimism Makes Loonie Stronger

The South KoreThe Canadian dollar gained, reaching the highest level in over a week against the dollar, stocks and commodities rose, so the growth-linked currency attractive to investors. 


The Federal Reserve, Ben S. Bernanke boosted optimism in the markets last Friday and still persists. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose to 2.8 percent. Futures for October delivery crude oil (the main export of Canada) gained 2.5 percent to $ 87.52 a barrel in New York. 


Market sentiment became even better as the report showed that personal spending in the U.S., Canada's largest trading partner, increased 0.8 percent in July compared with the average forecast 0.5 percent and falling 0.1 percent in June. The report this week by Statistics Canada is expected to show growth of Canada's gross domestic product by 0.2 percent in June after falling 0.3 percent in May.


USD/CAD traded at 0.9764 today as of 1:18 GMT after it fell yesterday from 0.9795 to 0.9767, while touching 0.9738 during the day — the lowest level since August 4. EUR/CAD fell from 1.4203 to 1.4171 on the previous trading session and traded near 1.4167 today. CAD/JPY traded at about 78.66 after rising from 78.21 to 87.61.