Loonie loses ground after weak employment data

The Canadian dollar dipped against most major rivals on Friday following underwhelming labor data for March. 

The Canadian economy lost 2.2 thousand jobs in March, while analysts expected an increase of 25.9 thousand jobs. 

Canada’s unemployment jumped to 6.1% in March from 5.8%, while analysts expected 5.9%. 

The Canadian dollar fell against its US counterpart by 0.3% as of 17:21 GMT to 0.7358.

Aussie

The Australian dollar fell 0.1% against its US counterpart to 0.6583. 

The US Dollar

The dollar index rose 0.2% as of 17:12 GMT to 104.2, with a session-high at 104.6, and a low at 104.1. 

The US government reported the addition of 303 thousand new jobs to the US workforce in March, blasting past estimates of 205 thousand.

The data also showed unemployment down to 3.8%, while average wages rose by 0.3%. 

Following the data, US 10-year treasury yields rose by 5.2 basis points to 4.361%, while two-year yields rose by 6.1 basis points to 4.702%.

The data showed the blistering performance of the US labor sector despite tight monetary measures enacted by the Federal Reserve.