Loonie climbs amid conjecture for Chinese, U.S. stimulus

The value of the monetary unit of Canada advanced against the world's reserve currency on Thursday, pushed up by conjecture about anticipated stimulus measures employed by the central banks of the globe's two largest economies, Bloomberg reports.

Also pushing up the Canadian dollar was increasing oil prices as the energy commodity is the top export of the natural-resources-rich country. The U.S. Federal Reserve and the People's Bank of China are projected to employ economy-spurring measures.

"You're still seeing demand for Aussie and the Canadian dollar," senior foreign-exchange strategist Stephen Gallo with Credit Agricole SA in London told the news source. "The markets are playing the debasement trade. They're buying the currencies that have positive real interest rates and selling the heck out of the ones with negative real interest rates. It's ongoing slippage away from the euro."

The loonie was advancing toward a second consecutive week of gains against its southerly rival as speculation about the Bank of Canada hiking interest rates also gained momentum.

Thursday saw the People's Bank of China boost its financial markets with the yuan equivalent of $12.6 billion to address cash shortfall issues, according to Reuters.