Canada’s dollar fell from the strongest level in two weeks against its U.S. counterpart as building permits unexpectedly slid and a report due tomorrow was forecast to show slower jobs growth. The currency weakened versus most of its major peers as building permits in Canada fell 11.2 percent in December, versus a forecast for a 5 percent gain. Oil, Canada’s biggest export, fluctuated after reaching a two-week low yesterday. Government bonds were little changed. “While the Canadian dollar strengthened overnight, we’ve come off since those building permits numbers were extremely poor,� John Curran, senior vice president at Canadianforex Ltd., an online foreign-exchange dealer, said by phone from Toronto. “But the real occurrence is going to be tomorrow’s employment data, that’s what everyone’s waiting on� The loonie, as the Canadian dollar is known for the image of the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, was little changed at 99.61 cents per U.S. dollar at 10:02 a.m. It gained earlier to 99.33 cents, the strongest since Jan. 23. One Canadian dollar purchases $1.0039. The yield on Canada’s benchmark 10-year government bond traded at 2 percent. The price of the 2.75 percent security due in June 2022 declined 5 cents to C$106.34. The Canadian economy added 5,000 jobs in January, down from a revised 31,200 the month before, economists in a Bloomberg survey estimated before the government reports the figures tomorrow. The unemployment rate will rise to 7.2 percent from 7.1 percent, according to a separate survey. The value of Canadian building permits dropped to C$5.73 billion ($5.75 billion) in December following a revised November decline of 14.5 percent, Statistics Canada reported today from Ottawa. To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Altstedter in Toronto at aaltstedter@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

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