TORONTO: The Canadian dollar firmed against the greenback on Friday to its highest in over two weeks after revised data showed the domestic economy added far more jobs in July than earlier reported.
The loonie also got some help from a separate report that showed factory sales increased in June for the fifth time in six months. The combined reports sent the loonie to near a session high, where it was flirting with breaking through both its 100- and 200-day moving averages.
But the primary focus of the day was the revised jobs report, which showed Canada created 41,700 jobs last month. Statistics Canada withdrew last week's report which showed a gain of just 200 jobs in July due to a flaw in the way the figures had been processed.
"The Canadian dollar is strong, it's broken out of its range," said Camilla Sutton, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto.
"I think the downside break to the range, as well as a couple technicals that have turned bullish Canadian dollar, is encouraging."
The Canadian dollar was at C$1.0870 to the greenback, or 92 US cents, stronger than Thursday's close of C$1.0903, or 91.72 US cents.
The loonie fell sharply last Friday following the first release of the jobs report. But the currency bounced back this week and is up 1 percent, on track for its best week since late March.
Canadian government bond prices were mixed across the maturity curve, with the two-year off 2 Canadian cents to yield 1.078 percent, while the benchmark 10-year was up 6 Canadian cents to yield 2.054 percent.
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