TORONTO: The Canadian dollar edged lower against its US counterpart on Friday but notched its second straight weekly gain, as equity markets rose and preliminary data showed the domestic economy growing at a pace exceeding the Bank of Canada’s projection.

The Canadian dollar was trading 0.1% lower at 1.2820 to the greenback, or 78.00 US cents, after touching its strongest intraday level since June 13 at 1.2790.

For the week, the currency was up 0.7%, while it has gained 0.4% since the start of the month, as the possibility that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates more slowly than previously anticipated boosted global equity markets.

It follows data on Thursday that showed the US economy shrinking for a second straight quarter.

“The risk backdrop has been supportive of CAD gains recently,” said George Davis, chief technical strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

Divergence between US and Canadian economic data “has helped to underpin CAD as well,” Davis said.