The Canadian dollar, one of the most dependent currency to stocks and commodities, climbed significantly today as optimism pushed the crude oil and gold rates up, suggesting that the global economy will improve demand for Canadian exports.

Optimism returned to markets today affecting negatively currencies like the yen and the dollar at the same time that emergent market currencies, like the Brazilian real, witnessed a rally today, as commodities climbed worldwide.

The Australian dollar extended its record high after a report indicated that retail sales grew for the first time in three months, providing support for speculations that the South Pacific nation will raise interest rates before the end of the year.

The U.S. currency slashed previous gains in the beginning of the Asian trading session today as speculations suggested that interest rates will be maintained at record lows for an extended period of time in the United Stated, indicating that the economy will need further stimulus to surpass the recession.

After declining to record low in months versus the euro and the dollar, the pound rebounded today as reports unexpectedly improved the sentiment towards the economic recovery in the United Kingdom, stopping the losing streak for the British currency.

The Brazilian currency has been very influenced by international sentiment regarding global economic conditions this year, due to Brazil’s commodity exporter profile, and today, as pessimism rose, the real declined slightly versus most of the 6 main traded currencies.

The Australian dollar has been ranking among the top 5 best performing currencies since the global economy started to give signs of recovering, and speculations regarding interest rate hikes provided support for the Aussie to gain versus all six main traded currencies this Tuesday.

The U.S. currency rebounded this week from a twelve-month low versus the euro and several other currencies as concerns regarding the global economic situations reappeared today, increasing risk aversion and consequently helping the greenback to gain in foreign-exchange markets.

After a shift in the outlook for the Canadian currency which had been losing significantly since it touched a one-year high last week versus the greenback, optimism in equities markets gave a breather for the Canadian currency to climb.

After renewed expectations for growth in South America’s wealthiest country, the real found support to extend its gains and remain one of the best performing currencies this year so far, as international investments are expected to grow in 2010.