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Canadian dollar hits one-week low as job boom fades

Published 2019-04-05, 10:10 a/m
Updated 2019-04-05, 10:10 a/m
© Reuters.  Canadian dollar hits one-week low as job boom fades

© Reuters. Canadian dollar hits one-week low as job boom fades

* Canadian dollar dips 0.2% against the greenback

* Canada sheds 7,200 jobs in March

* Loonie touches its weakest since March 29 at 1.3403

* Price of U.S. oil rises 0.5%

* Canadian bond prices trade mixed across the yield curve

By Fergal Smith

TORONTO, April 5 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened to a one-week low against its U.S. counterpart on Friday as domestic data showed an unexpected jobs decline in March following outsized gains in the last two months which had helped support the currency.

The Canadian economy shed 7,200 jobs in March, Statistics Canada data showed, while the unemployment rate held steady at 5.8 percent. Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a marginal gain of 1,000 jobs. nothing great about this report, but first-quarter hiring still looks very brisk, if anything still too brisk for an economy that's likely chugging along at a 1 percent to 1.5 percent growth rate," said Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC Capital Markets in a note.

Chances of an interest rate cut this year from the central bank nudged only slightly higher to 43 percent from 38 percent before the data, the overnight index swaps market indicated.

At 9:37 a.m. (1337 GMT), the Canadian dollar CAD=D4 was trading 0.2% lower at 1.3387 to the greenback, or 74.70 U.S. cents. The currency touched its weakest level since March 29 at 1.3403.

The loonie has advanced 1.9% since the start of the year even as it has lost ground since February, making it the second best performing currency in the G10 after sterling.

Still, strategists see little upside for the Canadian dollar over the coming months, cutting their bullish forecasts for the currency as worries about the global economy boost demand for higher-yielding U.S. dollars, a Reuters poll showed. U.S. dollar .DXY was little changed on Friday against a basket of major currencies after a jobs report for March showed than U.S. job gains were better than expected during the month while wage pressures were muted. price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, was supported by mounting geopolitical risks. U.S. crude oil futures CLc1 were up 0.5% at $62.40 a barrel. government bond prices were mixed across the yield curve, with the two-year CA2YT=RR up 1 Canadian cent to yield 1.582% and the 10-year CA10YT=RR flat to yield 1.700%.

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