Corporate foreign exchange news

Published by Mark Smith-HalvorsenThe Canadian dollar touched its highest level in two years against its US counterpart after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates pegged back at near-zero levels.Following the announcement, forex dealers were inspired to make moves into riskier assets such as the loonie, as the Canadian currency is known.Jack Spitz, managing director of foreign exchange at National Bank of Canada in Toronto, told Bloomberg: "The statement's likely to put a bid to commodities and by extension commodity currencies, most notably the Canadian and Australian dollars [...] by continuing to maintain interest rates low it will continue to promote growth."At 04:31 local time this morning (March 17th) in Toronto, the loonie bought 98.62 cents, up 0.5 per cent from yesterday.Foreign exchange traders will now look ahead to the publication of monthly wholesale sales data and the US producer price index later today, as well as a further statement from Fed chairman Ben Bernanke to be made to the House Financial Services Committee.For more information on foreign exchange treasury services and risk management, visit our Corporate FX site