TORONTO – The Canadian dollar was higher Friday even as traders looked to worsening tensions in Ukraine and ahead to a slew of important economic data coming out next week.

The loonie rose 0.08 of a cent to 90.76 cents US.

“Markets are shockingly quiet considering building Ukraine risk aversion into the weekend,” noted Camilla Sutton, Chief FX Strategist, Managing Director at Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets.

There were scattered reports of violence Friday as Ukraine forces try to end an occupation of government buildings by pro-Russian militia in more than 10 cities in eastern Ukraine. In turn, Russia’s Foreign Minister has accused the West of plotting to control Ukraine and also announced military exercises near Ukraine’s border.

At the same time, the economic cost to Russia for its stance toward Ukraine increased as Standard & Poor’s cut Russia’s credit rating to BBB-minus. The rating is one step above speculative or non-investment grade and down from the previous BBB rating.

S&P said it took the step because the tense situation “could see additional significant outflows of both domestic and foreign capital from the Russian economy.”

In other developments, the Russian central bank increased its key rate to 7.5 per cent from seven per cent.

The coming week will see a series of top-drawer economic reports, including the latest gross domestic product data for Canada and the U.S. The latest official reading on Chinese manufacturing will also be released and on Friday, the U.S. government releases its non-farm payrolls report for April.

The advance in the loonie on Friday followed a slight rise Thursday amid a positive outlook for exports and comments from Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz that Canadians should expect cheap borrowing costs to last for years even after the central bank gets around to hiking interest rates.

On the commodity markets, June crude in new York gave back 60 cents to US$101.34.

Geopolitical worries drove June bullion up $9.50 to US$1,300.10 an ounce while May copper was unchanged at US$3.12 a pound.