The Canadian dollar rose from almost a 21-month low as crude oil, the country’s largest, surpassed $100 per barrel on dwindling U.S. supplies and concern political turmoil in Egypt will disrupt imports from the Middle East.
The currency strengthened after crude inventories fell by 9.4 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute said yesterday. Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi rejected an ultimatum by the armed forces to solve the country’s political impasse, fanning concern that unrest may interrupt oil shipments. The U.S. is projected to have added jobs last month while Canada’s payrolls declined, according to separate surveys by Bloomberg before reports July 5.
“The price of oil is up over 100 bucks a barrel,” said David Tulk, chief macro strategist at Toronto-Dominion Bank’s TD Securities unit, by phone from Toronto. “CAD insofar as it’s a commodity play at moments in time, I think that’s probably what’s contributing to the relative out-performance of the Canadian dollar.”
Original post