BLBG:Canadian Dollar Falls Most in 1 Week Before Jobs Report
Canada’s dollar depreciated against its U.S. counterpart before a report tomorrow that forecasters predict will show the nation’s job growth slowing as the global recovery remains tepid.
The currency dropped by the most in a week versus the greenback, which rose against all but one of its 16 most-traded counterparts after diminished demand at a Spanish auction crimped appetite for risk, sending global stocks lower. The European Central Bank meets to determine interest rates before U.S. payroll data are released April 6.
“Payrolls on a bank holiday is a good enough reason to take risk off for anybody anyway,” said Kit Juckes, head of foreign-exchange research at Societe Generale SA, by phone from London, referring to the U.S. jobs report. “This feels like we had a couple of catalysts for risk to get taken off the table ahead of the long weekend with a major piece of data while we’re not here.”
Canada’s currency, nicknamed the loonie, declined 0.4 percent to 99.51 cents per U.S. dollar at 7:50 a.m. in Toronto, after falling as much as 0.5 percent, the most since March 28. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0049.
Canadian employers added 10,500 jobs to payrolls last month, according to the median of 24 forecasts compiled by Bloomberg News. Statistics Canada is due to release the report tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. in Ottawa. If the data matches forecasts, it would mean jobs have increased by 10,000 in the first quarter, compared with 74,600 in the same quarter in 2011.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Halifax at cfournier3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net