Historic single-day rise in Canadian dollar

Thursday, 30 October 2008, 19:30 IST
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Toronto:The slipping Canadian dollar pulled back with a vegeance Wednesday, registering its biggest single-day surge against the US dollar. The Canadian currency, which had slipped below 78 cents US Monday, gained 3.67 cents US to close the day at 81.63 cents US. At one day during the day trading, it soared to a record 4.5 cents US. The historic surge in the loonie, as the Canadian dollar is called, was caused by the rise in prices of commodities and oil which are Canada's main exports. Its rise was also helped by the fall in the American dollar against major currencies and a half-point cut in interest rate by the US Federal Reserve which will somewhat diminish appetite for the greenback. The strong commodity and oil prices also saw a 349-point jump in the composite index on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). At the close the day, the TSX composite index stood at 9,501.56. In fact, during the last days, the Toronto market has roared back after slipping below 9,000 Monday. Wednesday's 349-point gain follows a 614-point surge registered by the market Tuesday. The energy sector was up by 8.6 per cent, led by the Canadian oil and gas giant EnCana Corp. which jumped by $3.70 to end the day at $59.20. The gold sector also rose by 8.5 per cent, with Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc. posting a gain of $2.85 to end the day at $23.50. The financial sector also rallied by 1.15 percent after days of hammering, with the top Royal Bank of Canada showing a moderate gain of 43 cents to end at $45.43. Financial services giant Manulife Financial gained $1.81 to end at $25.30.
Source: IANS