Investing.com - The U.S. dollar dropped to two-and-a-half week lows against its Canadian counterpart on Friday, as positive employment data from Canada lent support to the loonie, while a disappointing manufacturing report from the U.S. weighed on demand for the greenback.
USD/CAD hit 1.0871 during European afternoon trade, the pair's lowest since July 30; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0880, shedding 0.21%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0850, the low of July 30 and resistance at 1.0921, Thursday's high.
In a revised report, Statistics Canada said that the economy added 41,700 jobs last month, beating expectations for an increase of 20,000 and after a 9,400 decline in June.
Canada's statistics agency had announced Tuesday that an error in the previous week's employment report had come to light and a review had been launched. Last Friday, Statistics Canada had reported that the economy had added only 200 jobs in July.
Canada's unemployment rate still remained at 7.0% for July, in line with market expectations and down from 7.1% in June.
A separate report showed that manufacturing sales in Canada rose 0.6% in June, compared to expectations for a 0.5% gain. May's figure was revised to a 1.7% increase from a previously estimated 1.6% rise.
In the U.S., the New York Federal Reserve said that its Empire State manufacturing index fell to a four-month low of 14.7 this month, from a reading of 25.6 in July, confounding expectations for a decline to 20.0.
Data also showed that U.S. producer price inflation rose 0.1% last month, in line with expectations, after a 0.4% increase in June.
Core producer price inflation, which excludes food, energy and trade, rose 0.2% in July, in line with market projections, and after a 0.2% gain the previous month.
The loonie was little changed against the euro, with EUR/CAD dipping 0.05% to 1.4562.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a report on industrial output, as well as preliminary data on consumer sentiment.