Canadian dollar hit a five year high against the greenback on forex accounts on a mix of strong domestic retail sales and more optimistic statements from the Bank of Canada.

The loonie, as the currency is known for the aquatic bird on the dollar coin, has had the best performance against U.S. dollars this month among the strongest traded currencies.

“Commodity currencies are starting to lose momentum,” expressed currency strategist at BNP Paribas SA, “Caution with long positions is currently the way to play things.”

The rally against the US currency started for the Canadian currency last Tuesday after the Bank of Canada maintained interest rate at 0.25 percent.

Reuters reported that George Davis, chief technical strategist at RBC Capital Markets stated "It removed a bit of the stigma that was overhanging the currency and made the downside in dollar/Canada a little bit more vulnerable ... so that's been one of the key factors over the last 24 hours or so."

He added “And the market right now is willing to take on incremental levels of risk because they have a more positive outlook for growth and so the resulting decrease in risk aversion has been a positive factor for the Canadian dollar.

The Canadian currency was trading at C$1.0994 per U.S. dollar today, compared to the C$1.1037 from yesterday. It reached its highest point since June 11.

Crude oil was down to $65.31 a barrel in New York. Raw materials, oil among them, account for over half of Canada export´s revenue.

The Canadian currency appreciated 0.4 percent to C$1.0994 per U.S. dollar at 3:11 p.m. in Toronto, compared with C$1.1037 yesterday. It touched C$1.0951, the strongest since June 11, after falling earlier as much as 0.5 percent. One Canadian dollar buys 90.96 U.S. cents.