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 almost two weeks 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 left interest rates unchanged before U.S. payroll data are released April 6. “Absent a strong catalyst in the short- or medium-term, the Canadian dollar looks to me very rich at these levels,� Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD), said in an interview. “It will be difficult to break out of this range.� The floor for the Canadian dollar is 98 cents per U.S. dollar, he said. Since January, the Canadian dollar has been stuck in a 210 point trading range between C$99.49 and C$1.016. It has gained 2.5 percent against the U.S. dollar this year and trailed seven other major currencies led by Mexico’s peso, up 9 percent. Canada’s currency, nicknamed the loonie for the image of the waterfowl on the C$1 coin, declined 0.5 percent to 99.63 cents per U.S. dollar at 5 p.m. in Toronto, after falling as much as 0.6 percent, the most since March 22. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0037. Government bonds rose, pushing the benchmark 10-year note yield down seven basis points, or 0.07 percentage point, to 2.13 percent. The 3.25 percent securities maturing in June 2021 traded at C$109.32, up 62 cents. Jobs Reports 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 match forecasts, it would mean jobs have increased by 10,000 in the first quarter, compared with 74,600 in the same quarter in 2011. U.S. payrolls climbed by more than 200,000 in March for a fourth month, economists said before the Labor Department report on April 6, the Good Friday holiday. “Payrolls on a bank holiday is a good enough reason to take risk off for anybody,� Kit Juckes, head of foreign- exchange research at Societe Generale SA, said by phone from London. The loonie is up 0.6 percent this week, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes, the most among the 10 currencies tracked. The U.S. dollar has strengthened 0.01 percent. To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net; Cecile Gutscher in London at cgutscher@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

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