The Canadian dollar ended Friday with big losses after the domestic employment report disappointed Forex traders, while the US employment data added to the woes, driving most major currencies down against the US dollar.
Canadian employment fell by 7,000 in February, being nowhere near the analysts’ estimate of 16,900 growth. The unemployment rate was steady at 7.0 percent. As a bit of good news, the trade balance deficit narrowed from $922 million in December to $177 million in January, while economists have thought it would increase.
The market paid attention to the bad part of economic data, driving the loonie down. Traders felt optimism for the currency ahead the Friday’s data, but the employment report reminded them that the Canadian economy is not yet particularly strong.
USD/CAD jumped from 1.0982 to close at 1.1088 and EUR/CAD soared from 1.5223 to 1.5382. CAD/JPY tumbled from 93.79 to 93.15.
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