Canadian Dollar Depreciates Amid a Rally in the U.S. Currency

By Chris Fournier and Cordell Eddings

Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's dollar fell, trading near the lowest in almost a year, as the U.S. dollar strengthened against most major currencies.

The Canadian dollar has weakened in nine of the last 10 trading days as economic growth slows. The currency has declined 5.5 percent since July 11 when oil reached a record $147.27 a barrel. It traded at $113.62 today. Commodities account for about half of the nation's exports, while the U.S. is Canada's biggest trading partner.

``You don't need to look further than the U.S. dollar,'' said Mathew Strauss, a senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets Inc. in Toronto. ``We saw broad-based U.S. dollar strength overnight, putting pressure on the Canadian dollar.''

The currency fell 0.3 percent to C$1.0670 per U.S. dollar at 8:38 a.m. in Toronto, from $1.0637 yesterday. It touched as low as C$1.0728 yesterday, the weakest since Aug. 17, 2007. One Canadian dollar buys 93.69 U.S. cents.

The Canadian dollar weakened versus 13 of the 16 most- actively traded currencies.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net; Cordell Eddings in New York at ceddings@bloomberg.net