Canadian dollar and business outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, March 11 The Canadian dollar strengthened against its US counterpart on Friday, following gains in crude oil prices, despite data showing the country’s unemployment rate at nearly a three-year high.

At 8:40 a.m. CST, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7563 or C$1.3222 which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.7493, or C$1.3346.

At 8:40 a.m. CST, New York Mercantile crude oil futures had gained US$0.68 to sit at US$38.52 per barrel, as the International Energy Agency said crude oil prices may have reached a bottom.

In Canadian domestic data, employment was virtually unchanged in February (-2,300 or 0.0 per cent) as gains in part-time work were offset by losses in full time, Statistics Canada said in a report on Friday.

According to StatsCan, the unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage points for the third consecutive month, reaching 7.3 per cent for the first time since March 2013.

The TSX was stronger in early activity, up 81.08 points at 8:40 a.m. CST to sit at 13,460.22.