By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, April 4 – The Canadian dollar was firmer compared its US counterpart at midday Thursday, amid some cautiousness ahead of Friday’s employment data from Canada and the US, analysts said.
Market participants expect that Canadian statistics will show 6,500 new jobs were created in March, and that there were 190,000 new jobs added in the US in March.
At 11:51 CDT Thursday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9868, or US$1=C$1.0134, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$0.9857, or US$=C$1.0145.
News that Japanese officials are going to try and to help relieve some of the country’s economic problems, and avoid deflation, further underpinned the value of the Canadian dollar.
However, speculation that the US Federal Reserve is looking at ending some stimulus programs and weaker commodity prices limited the advances.
The Toronto Stock Exchange was down 58.46 points, or 0.47%, at 11:51 CDT Thursday, to sit at 12,363.66.
