By Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, June 5 – The Canadian dollar was stronger against the US dollar Friday, underpinned by positive Canadian employment data, analysts said.
According to Statistics Canada, Canada’s economy created 59,000 new jobs in May, due to gains in private sector employment. Pre-report expectations called for jobs to increase by 10,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 6.8 per cent.
The Canadian dollar closed at US$0.8039 or US$1=C$1.2439 on Friday, which compares with Thursday’s North American settlement of US$0.7997 or US$1=C$1.2504.
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Strength in crude oil values was also supportive, as it is one of Canada’s biggest exports.
Though, employment data out of the US on Friday was also better than expected, which weighed on the Canadian currency. There were 280,000 new jobs created in the US in May, beating pre-report guesses of 226,000 new jobs, data shows.
Canadian bonds were down sharply on Friday, reacting to the better than expected jobs data from both sides of the border, traders said.
The two-year bond yielded 0.640% Friday, from 0.574% late Thursday. The 10-year bond yield was at 1.831%, from 1.741%. Bond yields fall as their prices rise.
