Loonie Firms After Solid Canada Jobs Data

The Canadian dollar strengthened against its major counterparts in the New York session on Friday, as a data showed that the economy created much more jobs than forecast in August.

Data from Statistics Canada showed that employment rose by 81,100 jobs in August, after a drop of 24,200 jobs in the previous month. Economists had expected an increase of 18,900 jobs for the month.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.7 percent. The rate matched economists' forecast.

The loonie bounced off to 81.12 against the yen and 0.9009 against the aussie, from its early low of 80.59 and a new 5-week low of 0.9053, respectively. Next immediate resistance for the loonie is seen around 83.5 against the yen and 0.86 against the aussie.

The loonie strengthened to a 2-year high of 1.4540 against the euro and more than a 5-week high of 1.3160 against the greenback, off its previous lows of 1.4613 and 1.3244, respectively. The currency is likely to find resistance around 1.42 against the euro and 1.30 against the greenback.