The Canadian dollar touched a three-week high Friday morning.

The loonie was up 0.19 of a cent at 98.01 cents US shortly before stock markets opened, shortly after hitting its highest point since mid-February.

In the United States, a spike in gas prices drove up expenses in February. The Labor Department says consumer prices increased a seasonally adjusted 0.7 per cent last month from January, the biggest rise since June 2009. Three-fourths of the increase reflected a 9.1 per cent surge in gas prices.

And Statistics Canada said national net worth increased to $6.9 trillion in the fourth quarter, up one per cent from the third quarter of 2012.

In commodities, April bullion rose $1.40 to US$1,592.10 an ounce, while May copper gained 0.7 of a cent to US$3.54 a pound.

The April crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange added 50 cents to US$93.53 a barrel.