TORONTO: The Canadian dollar strengthened to its highest level in more than two months against the greenback on Friday as oil prices rose and comments by a Bank of Canada deputy governor reinforced the central bank’s hawkish stance on interest rates. The loonie was trading 0.4% higher at 1.2477 to the greenback, or 80.15 US cents, after touching its strongest intraday level since Jan. 20 at 1.2471.

It was the ninth consecutive day of gains for the currency, which is the longest winning streak since August 2016. For the week, the currency was up 1%. “Front-end yield spreads are back to favoring the loonie today after a brief flip this morning, while the recent jump higher in crude oil prices is also helping bullish CAD sentiment,” said Jay Zhao-Murray, market analyst at Monex Canada Inc.