By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, February 17 The Canadian dollar was stronger against its US counterpart on Wednesday as crude oil futures gained ground.

At 8:42 a.m. CST the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7252 or C$1.3789 which compares with Tuesday’s North American close of US$0.7204, or C$1.3881.

At 8:42 a.m., New York Mercantile crude oil futures had gained US$1.02 to sit at US$30.06 a barrel.

In Canadian domestic data, Canadian investors acquired C$17.4 billion of foreign securities in December, a second consecutive month of strong investment abroad. Meanwhile, foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian securities by C$1.4 billion, led by federal government debt securities, Statistics Canada said in a report on Wednesday.

The TSX was stronger in early activity, up 99.16 points at 8:42 a.m. CST to sit at 12,654.14.