TORONTO: The Canadian dollar hit its strongest level against its US counterpart since January on Friday, after a surprise jump in domestic inflation and strong retail sales data.
The rate of inflation rose 1.2 percent in March, lifted by higher food prices as a decline in gasoline prices moderated, data from Statistics Canada showed.
Meanwhile, retail sales snapped a two-month slide.
The data pair adds to a feeling in the market that the Bank of Canada can hold off on another interest rate cut.
"I would say it's pretty unambiguous that today's dual reports are quite supportive of the currency," said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.
At 8:58 a.m. ET (1258 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading at C$1.2132 to the greenback, or 82.43 US cents, stronger than the Bank of Canada's official Thursday close of C$1.2181, or 82.10 US cents.
The currency's strongest level of the session was C$1.2088, its highest since Jan. 21. It is on track for a more than 3 percent gain this week.
US crude prices were down 0.83 percent to $56.24, while Brent crude lost 0.05 percent to $63.95.
Canadian government bond prices were lower across the maturity curve, with the two-year price down 11.5 Canadian cents to yield 0.643 percent and the benchmark 10-year falling 13 Canadian cents to yield 1.388 percent.
The Canada-US two-year bond spread was 14.3, while the 10-year spread was -51.0.
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