The Canadian dollar fell against the US currency on Friday, squeezed by weak commodity prices and a surging greenback, which climbed on employment data that showed the US shed far fewer jobs than expected in November. Initially, the US numbers helped to boost global equity markets and the Canadian currency climbed as high as C$1.0433 to the US dollar or 95.85 US cents.
US employers cut just 11,000 jobs in November, far fewer than expected, while the US unemployment rate fell to 10 percent. An earlier report showed Canada's economy created far more jobs than expected in November and the unemployment rate fell, suggesting a recovery is in the making. Statistics Canada reported a net employment gain of 79,000 jobs, beating analysts expectations of a 15,000 gain.
The unemployment rate edged lower to 8.5 percent from 8.6 percent in October. Analysts had expected a rise to 8.7 percent. The Canadian dollar closed at C$1.0579 to the US dollar, or 94.53 US cents, down from Thursday's finish at C$1.0547 to the US dollar, or 94.81 US cents.