Canada Currency Little Changed as Stocks, Oil, U.S. Dollar Rise

June 18 - Canada’s dollar was little changed as gains in crude oil and stocks offset pressure from a U.S. dollar that was strengthened by speculation it will be made more attractive by changes to the way the London interbank offered rate is set.

Canada’s currency, known as the loonie, traded at C$1.1331 per U.S. dollar at 3:59 p.m. in Toronto, from C$1.1318 yesterday. It earlier climbed as much as 0.7 percent, then depreciated 0.4 percent. One Canadian dollar purchases 88.26 U.S. cents.

“Oil and equities are the main pushers for the Canadian dollar,” said Michael Leavitt, a Montreal-based institutional- derivatives broker at MF Global Canada Co.

The British Bankers’ Association said it may allow more institutions to take part in the daily survey that sets Libor, the rate banks say they charge each other for loans in dollars and the benchmark for more than $360 trillion of financial products around the world. The dollar also gained today as investors abandoned bets the euro would rise further after failing to appreciate beyond $1.40.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, in a speech today in Regina, Saskatchewan, said the nation’s households face rising “stresses” that could lead to losses for banks. He reiterated a pledge to keep interest rates unchanged for a year and repeated comments from a speech last week last week that the global economy will not rebound quickly from recession.