Canadian Financial Close: Loonie soars with jobs data
By Commodity News Service Canada
WINNIPEG, July 7 – The Canadian dollar soared to its highest close in 10 months as domestic jobs data surpassed expectations.
Canada added 45,300 jobs in June, well ahead of the 10,000 most analysts had been expecting. That pushed the loonie to a level last seen back in September.
There are also expectations the Bank of Canada will raise interest rates this month, which was bullish for the loonie.
The Canadian dollar ended Friday at US$0.7760 cents or C$1.2887, compared to Thursday’s close of US$0.7703 or C$1.2982.
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 50.84 points, or 0.34%, to 15,027.16.
Losses in crude oil, gold bullion and natural gas prices weighed down the market.
Canada’s agricultural sector performed as follows:
AGT Food and Ingredients—–dn $ 0.11 at $ 23.45
Agrium Incorporated———-dn $ 0.23 at $117.02
Buhler Industries————– $ 0.00 at $ 4.23
Maple Leaf Foods————-up $ 0.19 at $ 32.78
Potash Corp. of Sask———dn $ 0.03 at $ 21.04
(All figures are in Canadian dollars.)
