The Canadian dollar rose to its highest point in three weeks against the US dollar on Friday, gaining support from rallying commodity prices on the back of plans for a comprehensive package to sop up the toxic debt that has been clogging US financial and money markets.
Canadian bond prices tumbled on a sharp unwinding of the recent safe-haven bid for government debt. The Canadian dollar ended the North American session at C$1.0500 to the US dollar, or 95.24 US cents, up from C$1.0618 to the US dollar, or 94.18 US cents, at Thursday's close.
The currency gained 1 percent for the week after a soft start as markets reeled from the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, which failed to finance risky real estate bets. The sale of Merrill Lynch and a bailout of American International Group followed, freezing up credit markets.
"A few days ago we were looking over a cliff and what we saw was a situation similar to Japan in the 1990s unfolding for the US economy," said Michael Gregory, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets. "Now we are in a position where we are far away from that and we will see, hopefully this spring, signs of stronger growth and resumed credit creation in the economy."
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