The currency received a boost after the last Bank of Canada meeting in which the central bank indicated it would begin tapering of bond-buying.
There was no specific catalyst for Thursday's move higher but the loonie has been correlated to the S&P 500, which gained on the day, said Erik Bregar, head of currency strategy at the Exchange Bank of Canada.
"I think we've seen just enough of a buoyant sentiment in stocks to keep the Canadian dollar close to its session highs," he said in an interview.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 19.76 points to 19,290.98 after hitting an intraday low of 19,181.87.