TORONTO - The Canadian dollar gained ground against the U.S. dollar Thursday, as strong economic data from earlier in the week continued to bolster the loonie on a day when American markets are closed for U.S. Thanksgiving.
The loonie was up 0.32 of a cent at 99.32 cents US after gaining 1.16 cents US on Wednesday.
The Canadian currency is outperforming most others, getting continued support from moderately positive economic data from the U.S. and a boost in Canadian stocks as the mood of markets improves.
"We can attribute that to just general U.S. dollar weakness," said Garey Aitken, director of equity research at Bissett Investments in Calgary.
"We saw the U.S. dollar gain ground again earlier this week on macro events (European debt and tension between the Koreas) and as those move from the front page to the second page or beyond then I think that trend of a weaker U.S. dollar comes back in to play some more," Aitken said.
The Canadian dollar has been the strongest performer amongst the major currencies in the past week, and was the only one to register a gain against the greenback in the last five days.
There's also some speculation that the Bank of Canada could raise interest rates sooner rather than later, following strong domestic economic data earlier this week that showed higher inflation and stronger retail sales.
Reports Wednesday that Russia would begin to add the Canadian dollar to its international reserves also supported a strong loonie.
The euro recovered marginally against the U.S. dollar Thursday, trading up fractionally at 1.3379 after sliding in recent days amid investor fears that Ireland's debt crisis could spread and devalue the currency.
The January crude oil contract was up 47 cents at US$84.33 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The December gold contract gained 70 cents to US$1373.70 an ounce.
