The Canadian dollar rose to its highest since mid-September 2017 on Monday, but was last little changed on the day, drawing some support overall from firmer commodity prices and generally higher yields compared with its U.S. counterpart.
Analysts said those two factors have helped shield the Canadian dollar from the negative impact of the economy’s worse-than-expected jobs report last Friday.
Canada’s economy lost 207,100 jobs in April, more than analysts’ estimates of 175,000 job losses, with declines driven by coronavirus restrictions in populous Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, data showed.
In morning trading, the loonie was flat at 1.2119 per U.S. dollar, having earlier touched its strongest intraday level since September 2017 at 1.2090.
“Weak data in Canada was widely expected, given the April lockdowns, and we do not think the data will deflect the BoC (Bank of Canada) from its tapering trajectory,” said Scotiabank in a research note.
The Canadian dollar has rallied against the greenback since the Bank of Canada last month flagged that it could begin hiking interest rates in late 2022 and cut the pace of its bond purchases.
Since roughly mid-April, the loonie has gained nearly 5%.
The Canadian currency also rose as copper raced to a record peak on Monday as investors worried about missing out on further gains.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange climbed to an all-time high of $10,747.50 a ton after first breaking through a decade-old record on Friday.
Canadian government bond yields were little changed across the curve, with the 10-year slightly down at 1.494%, from 1.5% late on Friday.
