Canadian forex midday: C$ softens

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, August 7 – The Canadian dollar was softer relative to the US dollar on Friday, reacting to positive employment data from the US, analysts said.

The US government reported 215,000 new jobs were added to the US economy in July, and wages rebounded. The positive data reinforces ideas that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates later this year.

At 11:35 CDT Friday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.7619 or US$1=C$1.3125, which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.7629 or US$1=C$1.3108.

Weakness in commodity prices, including gold and crude oil, also spilled over to weigh on the Canadian currency.

However, Canadian jobs data released Friday was also positive, which limited the downside. Statistics Canada said 6,600 new jobs were created last month, beating expectations of 5,000 new jobs.

The Toronto Stock Exchange was down 105.53 points, or 0.73%, at 11:35 CDT Friday, to sit at 14,300.38.