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Canadian Dollar Rises As Oil Prices Top $80 Per Barrel

The Canadian dollar is rising against its American counterpart as oil prices top $80 U.S. per barrel.

The loonie, as the Canadian dollar is known, is currently trading at 74.24 U.S. cents, having risen 0.10% in the last 24 hours.

The rise in the loonie’s value comes as the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil, the U.S. standard, rose nearly 3% in recent days to trade at $80.37 U.S. per barrel.

Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, is currently trading at $84.52 U.S. a barrel, having also climbed higher in recent trading sessions.

Oil is one of Canada's top exports and its strength underpins the nation’s currency.

Additional support for the loonie is coming from the Bank of Canada, which recently said it is too early to start cutting interest rates, holding its trendsetting rate at a 22-year high of 5%.

Canadian government bond yields have also moved higher, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note up 2.6 percentage points to 3.427%.