By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, September 6 – The Canadian dollar opened close to a cent
higher against its US counterpart on Friday, underpinned by stronger-
than-expected Canadian jobs data, industry watchers said.
According to Statistics Canada, the economy created 59,200 jobs in
August, which was much higher than the 20,000 job increase economists
had forecast. The jobless rate also lowered from 7.2% in July to 7.1%
in August, the report said.
Further strength came from weak US non-farm payroll data, brokers
said. The US Department of Labour reported that non-farm payrolls
increased by 169,000 in August, which was slightly lower than what
economists had predicted.
At 8:41 CDT Friday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.9617 or
US$=C$1.0398 which compares with Thursday’s North American close of
US$0.9518, or US$=C$1.0506.
Gains seen in commodities, including gold, copper and crude oil,
added to the loonie’s bullish tone.
The TSX was up 7.60 points Friday morning at 8:41 CDT, to sit at
12,852.66.
