TORONTO _ The Canadian dollar was higher Monday as the U.S. currency weakened somewhat and commodity prices advanced.
The loonie ran ahead 0.44 of a cent to 89.26 cents US.
The dollar sank 3/4 of a U.S. cent Friday to a six-month low as the loonie was depressed by weak trade data and a U.S. currency that appreciated further on stronger job creation in the U.S. last month.
A weaker U.S. dollar helped support commodity prices with November crude in New York up 23 cents to US$89.97 a barrel, December copper was three cents higher to US$3.02 a pound while December gold gained $2.50 to US$1,195.40 an ounce.
As of Friday, the loonie was down over three cents from the beginning of September as the U.S. dollar strengthened against other major currencies.
The greenback gained ground amid heightened speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve could move to hike rates sooner than expected.
But a major reason for the stronger greenback has been a euro which has weakened against a backdrop of practically non-existent inflation, weak economic data and a vow from the European Central Bank to take action to get the eurozone out of a deep funk, including driving interest rates to near zero.
On the economic front, the major release of the week comes on Friday when Statistics Canada releases the employment report for September. Economists expect that the economy cranked out about 15,000 jobs.
The agency will also release building permits data for August on Tuesday while September data on housing starts will be released by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. on Wednesday.