WINNIPEG – The Canadian dollar rose on Friday after the release of welcome job data from Statistics Canada.
As of 8:37 a.m. CST, the loonie was at US$0.7875 or US$1=C$1.2698, compared to US$0.7827 or US$1=C$1.2776 on Thursday. Canada’s central data agency announced on Friday the country added 336,600 jobs in February with the unemployment rate dropping one percentage point to 5.5 per cent.
The United States Dollar Index was up 0.10 of a point at 98.61.
Benchmark crude oil prices made slight gains on Friday on news that talks on a new nuclear deal for Iran have paused for the time being. Brent crude oil gained US$1.44 per barrel to US$110.77. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) increased US$0.71 to US$106.73/barrel. Meanwhile, Western Canadian Select (WCS) declined US$0.72 to US$93.03/barrel.
The TSX/S&P Composite Index added 24.82 points to 21,606.52.
Gold fell US$30.20 per ounce to US$1,970.20.
