The USD/CAD dropped significantly after the release of positive employment data for the month of December. The employment data released by Statistics Canada today indicates that Canada created thousands of jobs in December as opposed to job cuts, which were widely anticipated.
The currency pair dropped to lows below the 1.32 resistance level although the Canadian dollar had lost much of its gains against the US dollar at the time of writing.
The Canadian dollar gained against the greenback following the announcement that the Canadian economy had added 53,700 jobs in December 2016. This was contrary to expectations as analysts had predicted that Canada would shed at least 2,500 jobs in December.
The performance of the Canadian dollar was also boosted by positive economic data, which indicated an increase in exports and imports, a slight increase in international merchandise trade, and a higher rate of participation in the workforce.
The Bank of Canada, Canada’s central bank, is not expected to reverse its accommodative approach towards interest rates until future trends indicate that the country’s economy is on a stable path to recovery. The recent growth is being attributed to higher global oil prices given that oil is a major export commodity for the country.
The USD/CAD was trading at 1.3243 as at 18:05 GMT, but had tested lows of 1.3172 earlier in the day. The AUD/CAD was trading at 0.9666 having opened trading at 0.9706. The CAD/JPY was trading at 88.29 having opened trading at 87.42.
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