Loonie drives toward 10-week high against greenback

The value of the Canadian dollar pushed close to its highest level in 10 weeks against its southerly rival on Friday, according to Bloomberg.

Also driving the loonie higher was the increasing price of crude oil, which is the top commodity of the natural-resources-rich nation. The monetary unit also maintained its value after expansion in the U.S. economy during the second quarter of the year was slower than anticipated.

"Canadian dollar is holding onto modest gains," head analyst Dean Popplewell with online currency- trading firm Oanda Corporation in Toronto told the news source on Friday. "Now it's all going to be whether we see action from the central banks. The market has been pricing in some sort of action from the European Central Bank and from the Federal Reserve over the last 24 hours or so, but this morning we'll probably see more risk-averse position taking."

But those gains were tempered by skepticism for the European Central Bank challenging the damaging tendencies of the sovereign debt crisis that has been ravaging the 17-nation euro bloc, according to Reuters.

Germany is projected to resist ECB efforts to reduce expenses for borrowing in Italy and Spain, the news source reports.