Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose to nearly seven-week highs against its Canadian counterpart on Friday, as upbeat U.S. jobs data lent broad support to the greenback, although an equally positive Canadian employment report also boosted demand for the local currency.
USD/CAD hit 1.2553 during early U.S. trade, the pair's highest since June 1; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2552, gaining 0.39%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2380, the high of June 3 and resistance at 1.2563, the high of June 1.
The greenback was boosted after the U.S. Department of Labor said the economy added 280,000 jobs in May, exceeding expectations for an increase of 225,000. However, April's figure was revised to a 221,000 rise from a previously estimated gain of 223,000.
The report also showed that the U.S. unemployment rate ticked up to 5.5% last month from 5.4% in April. Analysts had expected the rate to remain unchanged.
U.S. average hourly earnings rose 0.3% in May, beating expectations for a 0.2% gain, after an uptick of 0.1% the previous month.
At the same time, Statistics Canada reported that the number of employed people increased by 58,900 in May, blowing past expectations for a 10,000 rise and after a 19,700 drop the previous month.
The report also showed that Canada's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.8% last month, in line with expectations.
The loonie was sharply higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD down 1.19% to 1.3917.
Sentiment on the single currency remained vulnerable after Greece told the International Monetary Fund on Thursday that it would delay a debt payment of about $339 million due Friday, submitting a request to bundle payments totaling about $1.7 billion due this month into one payment.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has rejected proposals by creditors to help unlock more aid to help with repayments. Following late night talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said "we’re still far from reaching a conclusion."