Canadian Dollar Rises for First Time in Eight Days as Oil Gains

By Cordell Eddings

Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's dollar rose for the first time in eight days as the price of the nation's commodity exports, including crude oil, gold and natural gas, climbed.

The currency declined 3.8 percent last week when oil weakened almost $10 per barrel. Oil prices climbed from a 14- week low today on concern the Russia-Georgia conflict may disrupt crude supplies from the Caspian Sea. Commodities account for about half of Canada's exports. The U.S. is Canada's biggest trading partner.

``The Canadian dollar is up after such a sharp retreat last week, which seemed a little extreme,'' said David Watt, a senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto, a unit of Canada's biggest bank by assets. ``There is also a feeling that oil may have bottomed, and the market will be looking at the situation with Russia and Georgia, which has pushed the price of oil up.''

The currency rose 0.1 percent to C$1.0655 per U.S. dollar at 7:53 a.m. in Toronto, from $1.0667 on Aug. 8. One Canadian dollar buys 93.84 U.S. cents.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cordell Eddings in New York at ceddings@bloomberg.net