Investing.com - The U.S. dollar edged lower against the Canadian dollar on Monday, but losses were held in check after an unexpectedly weak Canadian jobs report on Friday underlined expectations that the Bank of Canada will keep rates on hold for longer.
USD/CAD touched session lows of 1.0873 and was last trading at 1.0891, not far from the highs of 1.0914 reached on Friday.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0845 and resistance at 1.0930.
The U.S. dollar rebounded from four-month lows against the Canadian dollar on Friday after Statistics Canada reported that the economy shed 28,900 jobs in April, confounding expectations for jobs growth of 12,000.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.9%, in line with expectations but the labor force participation rate, which measures those still actively looking for work, ticked down to 66.1% in April from 66.2% the previous month.
The decline in employment was the largest since December 2013.
The weak data added to concerns over the prospect of weaker-than-expected economic growth in the second quarter and reinforced the view that the BoC will stick to its dovish monetary policy stance for some time to come.
Meanwhile, investors remained cautious after pro-Russian separatists claimed victory in a weekend referendum on self-rule in eastern Ukraine, fuelling fears that the country is sliding closer to civil war. The vote has been condemned by Ukraine’s government and the West.
Elsewhere, the loonie, as the Canadian dollar is also known, was almost unchanged against the euro, with EUR/CAD at 1.4991.
The pair plumbed three-month lows of 1.4909 on Friday, one day after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the bank is “comfortable” with acting to shore up growth and stop inflation from falling too low at its next meeting in June.