The Canadian dollar CADUSD strengthened against its broadly stronger U.S. counterpart on Friday as domestic data showed a blockbuster jobs gain in February, helping to underpin expectations for another Bank of Canada interest rate hike next month.
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.2% to 1.2740 per greenback, or 78.49 U.S. cents, after trading in a range of 1.2695 to 1.2794.
It was the only G10 currency to gain ground against the U.S. dollar. For the week, the loonie was down 0.1%.
“Today’s move is predicated by the employment report which was very robust,” said Amo Sahota, director at Klarity FX in San Francisco. “It keeps the Bank of Canada still very much on a tightening path.”
Canada added 336,600 jobs in February, more than double the 160,000 analysts had forecast, while the unemployment rate dropped below its pre-pandemic level for the first time as businesses reopened from strict Omicron restrictions.
Investors expect the BoC to raise interest rates for a second time at the April 13 policy announcement after it hiked last week for the first time in three years.
Chances that the BoC would move by 50 basis points rather than the usual increment of 25 basis points rose to 45% from 37% before the jobs report, money market data showed.
The price of oil, one of Canada’s major exports, rose on continued concerns about supply disruptions for Russian oil. U.S. crude oil futures settled 3.1% higher at $109.33 a barrel.
Canada is studying ways to increase pipeline utilization to boost crude exports as Europe seeks to reduce its dependence on Russian oil, the country’s natural resources minister said on Thursday.
Canadian government bond yields were higher across the curve. The 10-year touched its highest since January 2019 at 2.006% before dipping to 1.997%, up 6.1 basis points on the day.
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