Canadian dollar extends small gains after US Fed Reserve comment

TORONTO – The Canadian dollar extended its gains on Tuesday morning for a second day after the U.S. Federal Reserve offered reassurance that interest rates would stay low.

The loonie was up 0.12 of a cent at 90.56 shortly before North American stock markets opened.

Markets reacted positively on Monday to comments from Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen, who said she thinks the struggling U.S. job market will continue to need the help of low interest rates “for some time.”

Yellen had raised concerns that U.S. interest rates may begin to rise sooner than expected when she suggested last month that the Fed could start raising short-term rates six months after it halts its bond purchases.

Most economists expect the quantitive easing program to end this year.

In commodities, the May crude delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange is down 36 cents at US$101.22 a barrel, May copper is less than a penny from Monday at US$3.03 a pound while June bullion is up $2.20 to US$1,286 an ounce.