The Canadian dollar managed to erase losses against its US counterpart by the end of the Friday’s trading session with the help of positive domestic data. The currency even gained against the euro, reaching the highest rate since May 2013. The loonie also reduced losses versus the Japanese yen but was unable to erase them completely.
Canadian employers added 28,700 jobs in March, a rather big figure for Canada, while analysts thought that employment would stay almost unchanged. The unemployment rate remained steady 6.8 percent, proving wrong the forecasts that predicted an increase of unemployment. The report about the labor market was not the only positive data from Canada as housing starts were at the seasonally adjusted rate of 189,708 units last month, beating expectations. Yet another supportive factor for the Canadian currency was the rally of crude oil prices.
The loonie firmed thanks to all the news, yet its performance was not as good as one might expect considering the number of factors that played in favor of the Canadian dollar.
USD/CAD closed at 1.2581, basically the same level as the opening, after rallying to the high of 1.266 intraday. EUR/CAD dropped from 1.3408 to 1.3335. CAD/JPY settled at 95.54 after opening at 95.81 and falling to the daily minimum of 95.01.
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