strengthened to a nine-month high against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday as oil prices jumped and investors questioned whether the Federal Reserve will lift interest rates further as the central bank has signalled.
“The market sees the economy weakening and they don’t think the Federal Reserve is going to be able to continue to raise interest rates,” said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex LLC. The Canadian dollar was trading 0.8% higher at 1.3213 to the greenback, or 75.68 U.S. cents, its strongest intraday level since September last year.
The move higher for the loonie came as data showed Canadian home sales rising 5.1% in May from April, extending the market’s recovery following a year-long slump.