Canadian dollars (loonies) are pictured in Vancouver, B.C. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press
The Canadian dollar touched parity with the greenback Friday morning as commodities gained traction, a U.S. jobs report came in stronger than expected and the American dollar weakened against other currencies.
The loonie rose 0.71 of a cent to put it even with the U.S. dollar.
The July labour report said total U.S. nonfarm payrolls were up by 163,000, better than the 100,000 gain that was projected. The unemployment rate rose to 8.3 per cent, up 0.1 per cent.
In commodities, the September crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange lifted 97 cents (U.S.) to $88.10 a barrel.
September copper moved up 1.8 cents to $3.308 a pound while August gold rose 30 cents to $1,591 an ounce.