Canada's Currency Gains as Crude Oil Climbs Above $115 a Barrel

By Chris Fournier

Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's dollar rose as crude oil surpassed $115 a barrel.

The Canadian dollar strengthened versus 15 of the 16 most- actively traded currencies. Commodities account for more than half of the nation's export revenue.

``With crude posting gains right now, that's likely to reflect itself in better gains for the'' currency, said Jack Spitz, managing director of foreign-exchange trading at National Bank of Canada in Toronto, who predicts Canada's currency will weaken to C$1.08 against its U.S. counterpart by year-end.

The Canadian currency rose 0.2 percent to C$1.0445 per U.S. dollar at 8:16 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0470 on Aug. 22. One Canadian dollar buys 95.72 U.S. cents.

Canada's dollar has dropped 3.4 percent since July 11 when oil reached its record high of $147.27 per barrel.

Crude oil for October delivery advanced as much as $1.21 to $115.80 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net