Canadian dollar gains for 2nd day as Fed taper worries ease

By Fergal Smith

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar rose to a near two-week high against the greenback on Monday as investors cheered the Federal Reserve's patience on reducing asset purchases and data showed a widening of Canada's current account surplus in the second quarter.

The loonie was trading 0.2% higher at 1.2603 to the greenback, or 79.35 U.S. cents, adding to Friday's rally. It touched its strongest intraday level since Aug. 17 at 1.2573.

Gains for the Canadian dollar have been "fueled" by pressure on the U.S. dollar following Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech in Jackson Hole, Rahim Madhavji, president at Knightsbridge Foreign Exchange, said in a note.

Powell on Friday said the U.S. central bank would continue to be cautious in its approach to tapering its massive pandemic-era stimulus, which helped drive U.S. stock markets to a record high.

Canada's current account surplus widened to C$3.6 billion in the second quarter from a revised C$1.8 billion surplus in the first quarter. A positive trade balance tends to raise demand for a country's currency in the foreign exchange market.

Speculators have raised their bullish bets on the Canadian dollar, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday. As of Aug. 24, net long positions had increased to 5,877 contracts from 2,660 in the prior week.

The price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, settled 0.7% higher at $69.21 a barrel, but pulling back from session peaks as Hurricane Ida weakened to tropical storm status after forcing shutdowns of U.S. Gulf oil production.

Canadian government bond yields eased across the curve, tracking the move in U.S. Treasuries. The 10-year was down 2.2 basis points at 1.186%.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Sandra Maler)