Canadian Dollar Gains as Commodities Including Oil Increase

By Michael J. Moore

Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The Canadian dollar gained after commodities including gold and oil increased.

Canada's dollar strengthened versus 11 of the 16 most- actively traded currencies. It is up 2.9 percent against its U.S. counterpart so far this month. Commodities account for about half of the nation's exports.

``It's getting a bit of a lift off commodity prices, so it's one of the better-performing currencies,'' said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at TD Securities Inc. in Toronto. ``We are seeing some strength in crude oil prices, so we can perhaps expect the Canadian dollar to be relatively strong through the course of the day.''

The Canadian currency appreciated 0.5 percent to C$1.0330 per U.S. dollar at 8:34 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0384 yesterday. One Canadian dollar buys 96.80 U.S. cents.

Crude oil for November delivery gained as much as $2.89, or 2.7 percent, to $109.50 a barrel. Gold increased 1 percent to $895 an ounce.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael J. Moore in New York at Mmoore55@bloomberg.net.