Canada’s dollar weakened for the first day in four after a government report showed the U.S. unemployment rate rose to the highest in a quarter-century. “It’s the ebb and flow of risk appetite once again,” said Adam Cole, London-based global head of currency strategy at RBC Capital Markets, a unit of Canada’s largest bank. The Canadian dollar, known as the loonie, fell 0.4 percent to C$1.2421 per U.S. dollar at 9:32 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.2376 yesterday. One Canadian dollar buys 80.51 U.S. cents. The U.S. unemployment rate climbed in March to 8.5 percent, as forecast, the highest level since 1983, from 8.1 percent in February, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The economy lost more than 650,000 jobs for a fourth consecutive month. Total job losses since the recession began are about 5.1 million, the biggest slump since World War II. Canada’s currency will depreciate to C$1.27 against the U.S. dollar by the end of June, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 40 economists.

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