Canada’s dollar appreciated after a government report showed employers added more positions last month than economists forecast, countering speculation the economy is weakening. Employment rose by 60,900 in September after a decline of 5,500 in August, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. The unemployment rate fell to 7.1 percent, its lowest since December 2008. Bloomberg News surveys called for a job gain of 15,000 and unemployment to remain at August’s reading of 7.3 percent. The Canadian currency rose 0.3 percent to C$1.0342 per U.S. dollar at 7:01 a.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0x0371 yesterday. It touched C$1.0658 on Oct. 4, the weakest level since August 2010. One Canadian dollar buys 96.69 U.S. cents. Growth in the world’s 10th largest economy is expected by analysts to decelerate this year and in 2012, and Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has said there’s less need to lift borrowing costs. The central bank kept its main interest rate unchanged for an eighth meeting last month amid Europe’s financial crisis and a slow U.S. rebound. Canada’s economic growth is forecast to slow to 2.2 percent this year and 2.1 percent in 2012, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists and analysts this month. That’s 0.2 percentage points below the August forecast for both years. The Bank of Canada estimates economic growth will slow to 2.6 percent next year from 2.8 percent this year. The loonie, as Canada’s dollar is known for the image of the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, advanced to a three-year high of 94.07 cents on July 29 before plunging along with other risk- related assets as investors, concerned that a potential Greek default may spark a run on European banks and send the global economy into another recession, took refuge in the U.S. dollar and the yen. To contact the reporters for this story: Chris Fournier in Halifax, Nova Scotia at cfournier3@bloomberg.net; Allison Bennett in New York at abennett23@bloomberg.net; To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

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