TORONTO – The Canadian dollar advanced Wednesday amid rising commodity prices while the greenback weakened ahead of the afternoon release of minutes from the latest U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.

The loonie was up 0.12 of a cent to 95.12 cents US.

The publication of the minutes to the last policy meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve may provide clues as to when the central bank will start reining in its monetary stimulus.

As part of its latest stimulus to the U.S. economy, the Fed has been buying US$85 billion of financial assets a month to keep interest rates low and encourage borrowing and spending.

Expectations of such a tapering in bond buying has had the effect of pushing U.S. Treasury yields sharply higher. On Wednesday, the benchmark 10-year Treasury stood at 2.62 per cent, up sharply from about 1.7 per cent at the beginning of May.

Traders will also take in a speech by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke during the afternoon.

Commodity markets were higher despite glum Chinese data.

China’s exports fell by 3.1 per cent in June compared with a year earlier and imports contracted by 0.7 per cent, customs data showed Wednesday. Both were below forecasts of growth in the low single digits.

The report was issued a day after the International Monetary Fund scaled back its China 2013 growth forecast to 7.8 per cent from 8.1 per cent.

The figures fed into perceptions that China’s economic expansion is slowing due to weak global demand and an effort by the Chinese central bank to cool a credit boom.

The August crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange ran ahead $1.60 to US$105.13 a barrel amid an indication of growing crude demand in the U.S.

Financial data provider Bloomberg said U.S. crude inventories fell by nine million barrels last week. A drop in supplies would suggest stronger demand and underline the signs of economic recovery shown in last week’s stronger-than-expected U.S. hiring report.

Growing unrest in Egypt has also helped support oil prices lately.

August gold gained $9.70 to $1,255.60 an ounce while September copper gained two cents to US$3.08 a pound.