USD/CAD little changed in thin trade

US dollar was little changed and in proximity to two-month highs against its Canadian counterpart during the thin trade on Monday, as US and Canadian economic reports, released on Friday, bolstered bets that economy of the North American region may outperform the rest of the world.

USD/CAD touched a session high at 1.0487 during the early phase of Asian trade, also the pairs highest point since September 3rd, to reach 1.0481 at 14:50 GMT, ticking up 0.03% for the day. Support was likely to be received at November 8th low, 1.0444, while resistance was to be met at September 3rd high, 1.0560.

According to data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers in the United States unexpectedly added more job positions than projected in October. Non-farm payrolls increased by 204 000 in October, well above the expected 120 000 new jobs and above the revised up number of 163 000 jobs, added in the previous month.

At the same time, the rate of unemployment in the country, evaluated on the basis of another survey, increased to 7.3% in October, in line with expectations, from 7.2% in September.

These data points followed another report, which showed on Thursday that US economy expanded at a sharper than expected rate during the third quarter of the year. Nation’s Gross Domestic Product rose at an annualized rate of 2.8% in Q3, following the 2.5% expansion in Q2, and marking the best quarterly performance this year. Expectations pointed a 2.0% increase in GDP.

Meanwhile, in Canada, it became clear that economy added more jobs than expected in October, while the rate of unemployment remained at a five-year low. Crucial for the overall result has been the higher number of the employed people in the public sector and tourism, which appears to have compensated the generally weak performance of country’s private sector. Canadian employers added 13 200 new job positions in October, following a figure pointing 11 900 new jobs in the preceding month. Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada had predicted that economy will add 11 000 jobs in October.

In addition, the unemployment rate in the country remained unchanged at 6.9% in October, while preliminary estimates pointed an increase to 7.0%.

All these reports implied that economy of the North American continent was gradually gaining traction.

“The CAD looks better on the crosses”, said Jeremy Stretch, head of currency strategy at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, by phone from London, cited by Bloomberg News. “That’s consistent with growth looking a little better in North American as a whole and the byproduct of that is that Canada will probably do a little better than those in the global environment.”

Elsewhere, the loonie, as Canadian dollar is also known, was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD cross gaining 0.31% on a daily basis to trade at 1.4045 at 15:04 GMT. GBP/CAD pair was falling 0.20% to trade at 1.6749 at 15:06 GMT.