TORONTO _ The Canadian dollar was up about one-tenth of a U.S. cent ahead of trading on North American stock markets.
The loonie traded at 80.78 cents US, up 0.13 of a U.S. cent from Wednesday's close.
The Dow Jones industrial futures were up 51 points at 17,934.0, the Nasdaq futures rose 14.5 points to 4,530.3, and the S&P 500 futures advanced 4.6 points to 2,104.0.
On the commodity markets, the August crude contract was down 31 cents at US$59.96 a barrel and the August gold contract fell 90 cents to US$1,172.00 an ounce.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed Wednesday at 14,947.51, after rising nearly 300 points over the previous three days.