TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar hit parity with the U.S. dollar for the first time in 31 years on Thursday, capping a 62 percent rise from 2002 on the back of booming commodity prices and a deepening disenchantment with the greenback.

The historic level comes as oil prices sit near record highs and a China-led building boom helps boost base metals prices, developments that have guided billions in profits to Canada’s resource-rich West, stoking the bulk of the currency’s past rise.

“The huge increase in commodity prices in general have fed the acceleration of the Canadian dollar,” said Carlos Leitao, chief economist at Laurentian Bank of Canada.