The Canadian dollar rose today as the speech of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke boosted stocks and commodities, while comments of Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel eased fears of a new spread of the financial crisis.

Merkel told that Germany may support the plan to run both the temporary and the permanent bailout funds simultaneously. Bernanke explained that the unemployment level is still elevated and the need for the accommodative policy remains. The loonie gained after the Chairman’s comments on hopes that the stimulative monetary policy will maintain demand for exports from Canada by supporting the US economic growth.

Markets reflected the optimistic mood of traders that was caused the positive comments. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.9 percent. Futures for delivery of crude oil in May rebounded to $106.90 per barrel on the NYMEX, following the earlier drop to $106.19.

USD/CAD fell from 0.9979 to 0.9922 and CAD/JPY climbed from 82.50 to 83.44 as of 18:22 GMT today. EUR/CAD was down from 1.3242 to 1.3231, while earlier it slid as low as 1.3176.

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