By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, March 11 – The Canadian dollar was trading at a firmer level compared to its US counterpart at midday Monday, as optimism that the Canadian economy is recovering lifted its value, analysts said.
The optimism was sparked by a positive jobs report from Statistics Canada on Friday. According to Statistics Canada, 51,000 new jobs were created in February, beating pre-report expectations that 8,000 new jobs would be added. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7%.
At 11:59 CDT Monday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9742, or US$1=C$1.0265, which compares with Friday’s North American close of US$0.9717, or US$=C$1.0291.
However, weakness seen in crude oil values helped to limit the Canadian dollar’s upside potential, according to market watchers.
The Toronto Stock Exchange was down 1.40 points, or 0.01%, at 11:59 CDT Monday, to sit at 12,834.21.
