The Canadian dollar leaped against the US dollar and the Japanese yen (though fell versus the euro) after the release of employment data from Canada. While the report was not good strictly speaking, it was not as bad as economists had feared.
Canadian employment shrank by 6,400 jobs in June (almost zero percent) compared to the median forecast of a 9,100 drop. The decrease followed the hefty gain by 58,900 in May. The unemployment rate held steady at 6.8 percent while analysts predicted an increase to 6.9 percent.
The Canadian dollar was also supported by the positive general market sentiment that was driving many other currencies higher as well. Not all fundamentals were supportive for the loonie, though, as the rally of crude oil prices stalled.
USD/CAD dropped from 1.2705 to 1.2679 as of 20:27 GMT today after rising to 1.2753 earlier. EUR/CAD jumped from 1.4020 to 1.4146 but retreated from the daily high of 1.4254. CAD/JPY surged from 95.45 to 96.73 (1.4 percent).
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