The Canadian dollar strengthened against the greenback on Friday as stronger-than-expected domestic jobs data helped the currency rebound from an earlier two-week low, but the loonie still lost ground for the week due to rising fears over global trade. Canada added 66,800 jobs in January, the second month of outsized gains in the past three, as services-producing sector jobs soared, Statistics Canada reported. Analysts had forecast a gain of 8,000 positions.
At 4:06 p.m. (2106 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading 0.3 percent higher at 1.3264 to the greenback, or 75.39 US cents. The currency's strongest level of the session was 1.3233, while it touched its weakest since Jan. 25 at 1.3329. For the week, the loonie fell 1.3 percent.
Canadian government bond prices were lower across much of the yield curve, with the two-year down 1 Canadian cent to yield 1.772 percent and the 10-year falling 5 Canadian cents to yield 1.883 percent. The gap between Canada's 10-year yield and its US equivalent narrowed by 2.6 basis points to a spread of 75.1 basis points in favor of the US bond.