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OTTAWA — Rising exports of motor vehicles, aircraft and energy products helped Canada post a surprise C$762 million ($582 million) trade surplus in goods in May, Statistics Canada reported on Wednesday – only the second surplus seen since December 2016.

The Canadian dollar rose slightly to 1.3085 against the U.S. dollar or 76.42 U.S cents.

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Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a shortfall of C$$1.50 billion. Statscan revised April’s deficit to C$1.08 billion from an initial C$966 billion.

Statistics Canada said total exports rose 4.6% to a record C$53.1 billion in May. Exports of motor vehicles were up 12.4% in May to C$8.4 billion, thanks to increased shipments of passenger cars and light trucks after Canadian production increased.

“We think it’s an excellent sign of the recovery in Canadian trade and we think this dramatic about face is probably likely to persist given what we’ve seen in the underlying data,” said Ross Prusakowski, principal economist at Export Development Canada.