Canada's Dollar Rises to 33-Year High as Inflation Accelerates

Canada's dollar, nicknamed the loonie after the image of the national bird on the one-dollar coin, is the best performer against the U.S. dollar this year among the most-actively traded currencies. It has gained 21 percent since December, as prices of the nation's commodity exports surged and the U.S. dollar weakened. Canada's dollar reached parity with the U.S. dollar on Sept. 20 for the first time since 1976.
The currency rose 0.8 percent to $1.0349 at 4:25 p.m. in Toronto. It climbed as high as $1.0380. One U.S. dollar buys 96.63 Canadian cents.
Canadian inflation accelerated at the fastest pace since May 2006 in September. The consumer price index gained 2.5 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 1.7 percent rate in August, as gasoline climbed 13 percent, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.2 percent from August.