The Canadian dollar rose to a 7-day high of 1.32780 on Thursday, aided by rising crude oil prices. After trading in a range between 1.3320 & 1.3400 since Wednesday of last week, the CAD spiked 0.50 percent on Thursday morning as crude oil futures rose above $50.00 around 10:00 a.m. EST.
By 11:15 a.m., the price of crude oil had risen to 15-day high of $50.46, pushing USD/CAD exchange rate down to its 7-day low of 1.32780.
Thursday’s oil-price-spike was also strong enough to offset the effects of the rising U.S. dollar on the USD/CAD exchange rate. In a rare display, the USD/CAD rate declined as the U.S. Dollar Index climbed to an 8-day high of 100.44 on Thursday.
The U.S. dollar’s strength was mainly a result of a better-than-expected Q4 GDP print of 2.1 percent, which was released today at 8:30 a.m by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
While the CAD was trading at 1.3278 around 11:45 a.m., at press time, the Canadian dollar has given up most of the day’s gains, trading at 1.33222:
Canada's currency may have gotten a small boost today from the energy market. However, the CAD has yet to recover all the heavy losses it took on at the beginning of February, which became when the USD/CAD exchange rate was under 1.3000.
CAD banknote photo by KMR Photography
