TORONTO: The Canadian dollar rallied to almost two-week highs on Thursday against a broadly weaker US dollar and US crude prices that surged more than 4 percent.
Crude oil, a major Canadian export, jumped in part on worries about potential damage to oil installations from a hurricane headed for the US East Coast. Plunging crude prices have dragged the loonie down sharply over the last year and remains a significant driver for the currency.
The US dollar, which pulled back after data showed the pace of growth in the US manufacturing sector remained at or near levels not seen since 2013, also helped the Canadian dollar.
At 10:15 a.m. EDT (1415 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading at C$1.3225 to the greenback, or 75.61 US cents, stronger than the Bank of Canada's official close of C$1.3345, or 74.93 US cents on Wednesday.
The currency, which was outperforming nearly all of its key currency counterparts, traded between C$1.3219 and C$1.3331 so far in the session.
US crude prices were up 2.95 percent to $46.42, while Brent crude added 1.92 percent to $49.3.
Canadian government bond prices were higher across the maturity curve, with the two-year price up 3.5 Canadian cents to yield 0.502 percent and the benchmark 10-year rising 19 Canadian cents to yield 1.411 percent.
The Canada-US two-year bond spread was -14.3 basis points, while the 10-year spread was -62.1 basis points.
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