Forexpros – The U.S. dollar fell to a session low against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after official data showed that the Canadian economy added the most jobs in three years last month.
USD/CAD hit 0.9922 during U.S. morning trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.9925, shedding 0.36%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9887, Tuesday’s low and resistance at 0.9973, Wednesday’s high.
Statistics Canada said that the country added 82,300 jobs in March, far more than forecasts for an increase of 10,000. The unemployment rate ticked down to 7.2%, from 7.4% in February. Analysts had expected the jobless rate to climb to 8.0% last month.
A separate report showed that the number of new building permits issued in Canada rose by a seasonally adjusted 7.5% in February, more than doubling expectations for a 3.0% gain.
In the U.S., official data showing that U.S. jobless claims fell to the lowest level in nearly four years last week supported expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold off on implementing fresh monetary easing measures.
The Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending March 31 fell to a seasonally adjusted 357,000, the lowest since April 2008 and slightly short of expectations for a decline to 355,000.
The loonie, as the Canadian dollar is also known, was sharply higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD dropping 1% to hit 1.2962.
The single currency came under broad selling pressure as Spain’s borrowing costs continued to rise following Wednesday’s poorly received government bond auction. The yield on the country’s 10-year bond climbed to 5.71% earlier, the highest level since mid-December.
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