TORONTO -- The Canadian dollar pushed to a
30-year high against the greenback Friday, supported by
strong employment data, firm oil prices and expectations of a
rate hike by the Bank of Canada this week.
At mid-morning, the currency touched C$1.0463 to the U.S.
dollar, or 95.57 U.S. cents, up from C$1.0567 to the U.S.
dollar, or 94.63 U.S. cents at Thursday's close.
"We've had decent employment numbers in Canada this
morning, and that should firm up expectations of a Bank (of
Canada) move next week," said Shaun Osborne, chief currency
strategist at TD Securities.
The Canadian dollar rose sharply against the greenback
after Statistics Canada said the economy added 34,800 jobs in
June, about double what was expected.
A Reuters survey conducted after the jobs data was released
saw all 13 of Canada's primary securities dealers forecast the
central bank will raise its key overnight rate on Tuesday by 25
basis points.
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All but two of the dealers predicted another quarter-point
hike by the bank in October.
The bank has left its overnight rate unchanged at 4.25
percent since May 2006, but the sizzling economy prompted the
it to warn it may have to raise rates to hold off inflation.
Solid oil prices also contributed to the strength the
Canadian dollar, with London Brent crude pushing above $76 a
barrel as production disruptions in Nigeria and output cuts by
OPEC raised concerns that global supplies were tightening just
as demand is picking up from U.S. refiners.
The outlook for the Canadian dollar looks strong, said TD's
Osborne, with further support coming from merger-related buying
of the currency.
"There is still a lot of interest of foreign acquisitions
of Canadian assets, and that's probably going to be an ongoing
issue for our markets here in the next little while," he said.
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